LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap.. ______ Copyright No. 



Shelf... 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




REV. BEVERLY CARRADINE, D. D. 



REVIVAL SERMONS. 



BY 



//■ 

i 

REV. B. CARRADINE, D. D., 

k * 

Author of "A Journey to Palestine," " Sanctification," "The Lottery 

Exposed," " Church Entertainments," " The Bottle," " Secret 

Societies," " The Second Blessing in Symbol," 

" The Better Way," " The Old Man," "Pastoral 

Sketches," and " The Sanctified Life." 



W. B. PAIvMORB, 
1414 Locust St., St. Louis, Mo. 

1898. 






87 



\ 



Copyrighted 1897, 

by 

KEV. B. CAKEADINE, D. IX 




ONE COPY RECEIVED 

3W 



*898. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. Page 
Revivals i 

CHAPTER II. 
How to Obtain A Revival 27 

CHAPTER III. 
Sin and Salvation 51 

CHAPTER IV. 
Sonship 74 

CHAPTER V. 
Christ Lost and Found . 101 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Uttermost Saviour 128 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Uncontainable Blessing 160 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Entire Sanctification 196 

CHAPTER IX. 
The Full Joy 225 

CHAPTER X. 
Kindness 254 

CHAPTER XI. 
Complete In Christ. 284 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Certainty of Victory 312 



REVIVAL SERMONS. 



REVIVALS. 
"Wilt thou not revive us again. " — Psalm 85 :6. 

DAVID is asking in this verse for a revival. He 
distinctly specifies the character: "Wilt thou 
not revive us." He wanted a Divine work as 
opposed to a mere human effort and result. Some- 
thing not worked up, but sent down. 

Several reflections may be drawn from this Scrip- 
ture. 

1. ALL OF US SHOULD BELIEVE IN REVIVALS. 

Most of us have been brought to God and into the 
church through the instrumentality of the revival. 
Even where this is not the case we have been refreshed, 
renewed and in various ways benefitted by genuine 
revivals of religion. Some historians say that English 
society was saved by the Wesleyan Revival of last 
century. 

The Methodist Church certainly ought to believe in 
them. She was born in one, cradled and rocked in 

1 



2 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

others, and made strong by ten thousand more. Like 
the animal Daniel saw in his vision she has advanced 
North, South, East and West just as she has pushed 
along this special line of spiritual effort and Divine 
blessing. Nothing can stand before her when putting 
on the garments of salvation and with revival power in 
her heart and revival song and sermon on her lips, she 
turns upon the powers of darkness. Sinners and sinful 
institutions alike go down before her. Here is her 
glory and power. Other churches feel that they have 
other things of which to boast in the shape of rituals, 
rank, w r ealth, splendor of showy form and massiveness 
of Cathedral buildings. These things are their glory, 
but the glory of Methodism has ever been the revival. 
If she forfeits that, she has lost her peculiarly distin- 
guishing feature as w T ell as true work and noblest heri- 
tage, and becomes poor indeed. Giving up this she 
will cease to be blessed in herself and a blessing to 
others. There are few more painful sights than the 
spectacle of a Methodist congregation patterning in va- 
rious ways after some cold, worldly, ritualistic church. 
It argues the forgetfulness of her origin and training, 
the ignoring of the secret of her past success, and the 
laying down of her mighty weapon of glory and victory. 
All churches ought to believe in revivals, if they be- 
lieve in the Bible. There they are mentioned again 
and again as the result of the people turning to God 



REVIVALS. 6 

with repentance, faith and prayer. There were revi- 
vals in the time of Moses, David, Jehosaphat, Elijah, 
John the Baptist and the Disciples of Christ. All of 
them were remarkable in their wide reaching results 
and were accredited by the presence and power of God. 
As for the Saviour, His course all through the entire 
country was marked by revivals. Women lifted up 
their voices under his preaching, saying, " Blessed is 
the womb that bare thee, and the breast that gave thee 
suck." Unclean spirits cried out under his presence 
and sermons; defrauders rectified the wrongs of the 
past; unholy Magdalenes became pure; multitudes 
hung on his words; many shouted aloud his praises, 
and many others forsook all and followed him. What 
was all this but a sweeping revival. Let only a few of 
these scenes take place in a pastorate and instantly a 
letter would go forward to the church paper declaring 
that God had visited his people and a time of refreshing 
had come. 

The spiritual movement of the church reminds one 
of the flight of a bird. Close scrutiny reveals that the 
bird does not fly in a straight line where every point is 
equally distant from the earth ; but rises by a rapid 
movement of the wings to a higher altitude and then 
slides down a plane of atmosphere. Then it flutters 
again, rises again, and slides down again as before. 
The rapid beat of the wings overcomes the law of 



4 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

gravitation. Then as the movement is discontinued 
the earth asserts its power and brings the bird down. 
The study of any church will reveal this to be its 
similar course. It rises into higher experience and 
holier living through increased observance of the 
means of grace, which is a flutter of spiritual wings. 
In the force gathered, it not only rises, but rushes 
forward with accelerated and easily recognized mo- 
mentum. Then comes after awhile a downward incli- 
nation and movement to the world. After this is held 
another protracted meeting, there follows a revival rise, 
a rush forward, and another letting down. 

Many suppose this is a normal and proper state. 
But w r hat is right in the bird is not the best flight pos- 
sible to the church. An annual flutter of the church's 
wings in the shape of a revival is a great deal better 
than no flutter at all. But what the church wants is a 
continuous flutter. The bird is not going to heaven, 
but the church is; so let the wings of Zion be con- 
stantly in motion. The day is coming when the life 
and progress of the church shall be marked, not by an 
undulating course, but by a straight line that does not 
bend anywhere to the world. Better still, the end 
of the line that once dropped earthward, will be 
raised heavenward, and there shall be an increas- 
ing force and accumulating life and glory all the 
while. 



REVIVALS. O 

In the last days, John says, there shall be seen an 
angel flying through the midst of the heavens having 
the everlasting gospel to preach. That angel is the 
church, for no one but men and women can preach the 
gospel. Moreover the church will be so full of love 
that it will look like an angel; and so full of desire to 
reach all men that railroads and steamers will be too 
slow, and so it will invent swifter modes of travel and 
appear fairly flying. 

The revival should remain in the church. The idea 
of saving men in July and August and not in the 
other ten months is simply fearful. A great many 
sinners die in January. The idea of the church ever 
letting down its holy life and work of saving souls ! 
There is a bird called the Paradise Bird, that is never 
known to alight. Shall God's Church be out-stripped 
by a bird. 

The Apostolic Church after the Baptism of the Holy 
Ghost added daily to their number such as should be 
saved. It was not an annual, monthly or weekly work 
with them, but every day! So when the church shall 
see that the blessing of Pentecost is a distinct work of 
the Holy Ghost qualifying us for such a life and work, 
and when it shall be sought as a separate blessing, 
then shall we enter upon an unbroken revival in the 
church. Conversions will take place at every service, 
sanctifications will occur while the preacher presents 



6 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

the doctrine, great rejoicings will fall upon the 
assembly, and we will enter upon toils and triumphs 
that some would confine to history and the Bible, but 
which, thank God, can be seen in these present days. 

2. THE SIGNS OF THE ABSENCE OF A REVIVAL. 

These are many and unmistakeable. They are 
always the same. In John the Baptist's time, in 
Luther's time, in Wesley's days, as we look we behold 
churches grown cold, preaching mechanical and pro- 
fessional, the Bible neglected, the Sabbath desecrated, 
sin defiant, sinners not sought after, and the houses 
of worship half empty. 

Nor are these all the tokens of spiritual coldness and 
deadness. Stiffness between the people is a sign. Do 
we not all know, and have we not all seen how social 
frigidities and class petrifications melt away under the 
breath and touch of the Holy Ghost ! The Appenines 
sink out of sight between France and Spain and the 
Atlantic dries up between Europe and America when 
Christ descends and fills all hearts. 

Lack of spontaneous singing is a sign. A revived 
congregation cannot keep silent, they must sing and 
will sing. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of song and the 
inspirer of praises ; so when He is present He makes 
Himself known in that way through the lips of the 
people. So set it down as a fact that the absence of 



REVIVALS. f 

spontaneous and general singing declares the presence 
of spiritual death. The dead sing not. The tongue 
of a corpse is silent and motionless. 

Dressiness is a sign. We are not here advocating a 
fanatical undress system, but speak of that richness 
and gaudiness against which the Scripture clearly 
speaks. A rule is that just as people recede from God 
do the}' emphasize dress, and the measure or grade of 
spiritual condition is clearly revealed externally. Nor 
is this all, but the farther down we go amid the ranks 
of the ungodly, the more we are impressed with the 
increasing stress laid upon dress. It is well known 
that sparkling ornaments, striking colors, and general 
gaudiness mark those that are farthest from heaven. 
While on the street the flashy style shows the 
abandoned woman, and the showy dress of the sport 
and gambler is equally significant. 

Church entertainments is another sign. When 
God's people have to be coaxed by food and amuse- 
ments to give to His cause, then are they spiritually in 
a bad way. The church entertainment is a mistake all 
around. It is a social mistake, for it nearly always 
produces misunderstandings and ruptures. It is an 
ecclesiastical mistake, for it brings the church into 
contempt before the world. It is a financial mistake, 
for such proceedings dry up the fountain of liberality, 
and prevent the spontaneous and sacrificing giving that 



8 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

God desires and demands. It is a religious mistake, 
for it will produce deadness in any church that under- 
takes them. When a genuine revival comes how these 
things disappear. Christ in spirit overturns the tables 
and banishes the merchandise again as He once did in 
Jerusalem. 

Absence of conversions is a final sign of spiritual 
weakness and death. God says when Zion travails 
then sons and daughters are born unto God. Travail 
we know is an agony. It requires this upon the part 
of the church to bring about the salvation of sinners. 
In true revivals this is always seen. When a church 
is without it there may be accessions but no con- 
versions. 

Look around and see if this travail or agony of 
soul is upon the congregations you know. Look at 
the faces in pulpit, pew and choir. Listen to the 
people talking on their way home from church. Who 
is in concern. Look in closets for forms bowed and 
eyes weeping over men falling into hell. What 
Nehemiah is there who surveys at night a desolate 
Jerusalem with tears? What Moses is saying, " Save 
these people, Lord, or blot my name out of the 
book"? What Fletcher stains his walls with the 
breath of prayer, and what Knox falls upon his 
face with sobs saying, "Give me these souls or I 
die"? 



REVIVALS. 9 

Cannot anyone see why the altars are not lined with 
weeping penitents? Why should they be there? What 
is being done to bring them? What is there in our 
words and lives and appearance to make men smite 
their breasts and say, what must we do to be saved? 

Are not all these signs of lost or absent power? 
Something is lacking or something is gone. Samson 
can shake himself, but he cannot overwhelm the 
Philistines. Oh, for God's people to humble them- 
selves, fall on their faces and weep before God! How 
soon the sound of a going in the trees of life would be 
heard, and salvation sweep the land like a cyclone. 
Alas, there are no lack of signs of spiritual coldness. 
There are too many if anything. 

Some one was once looking at a row of small houses 
on a cold winter day. Every one had snow on the 
roof but one. It needed no Solomon to give the 
reason. The snow-roofed houses had no fires burning 
inside. The exceptional dwelling did, and so the 
w T arm atmosphere within had affected even the shingles, 
'and the icy mantle had slipped off. So there is no 
trouble to-day to tell what churches are spiritually 
tireless. Frost in the pulpit, snow in the choir, and 
icicles in the pew, tell the sad story that the holy fire 
burns low or has gone out. It is vain to call the 
congealed condition of things ''decency and order" 
and dignity. God knows better and the world knows 



10 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

better. All can see that the Holy Ghost fire has been 
quenched. The snow is on the roof. Or to change 
the figure the sun is down, winter has come, a polar 
night has settled, the old ship of Zion is caught among 
the floes, icebergs are grinding all around, and the 
best hope is for a Relief Expedition in the shape of a 
revival in order that some may be saved. 

3. THE TRUE REVIVAL IS THE SOLUTION OF EVERY 
CHURCH PROBLEM. 

There are problems in the church. No thoughtful 
person will deny that they are numerous and of grave 
character. The souls of many of God's children are 
burdened with them; the tongues, pens, brains and 
hearts of scores of the most gifted in Zion are busy in 
suggesting, devising and executing in order to bring 
about a happier state of affairs. But the problems 
seem to defy solution. 

One is the social problem. How are we to bring 
people of different classes together in Christian fellow- 
ship? The rich and poor have but one Maker, how 
are we to get them to believe this and act according to 
their faith? How are w T e going to make diverse classes 
feel they are brethren and melt them with a common 
love and fire them with a single purpose. Can 
Christianity accomplish this? If not, then must the 
Gospel be counted another one of the great failures of 



REVIVALS. 11 

mighty efforts projected on this line. If the religion 
of Jesus can do it, and has not yet, then is there some 
grace or blessing in the Divine system not yet generally 
known by the followers of Christ. 

Then there is the feud problem. We have people in 
the church in every stage of coolness toward each 
other from the Temperate through the Frigid Zone up 
to the North Pole itself where the ice never melts, 
where everything is frozen solidly through the entire 
year, and Inaccessibility sways the icicle scepter over 
the snowy region. How can the people who dwell in 
these different zones be brought together in kindness 
and love, and this reproach upon the cause of Christ 
be taken away? They have been visited, talked to 
and prayed w T ith. Every new minister tries his hand 
on them. He sails to the Northern regions where 
they live, walks over ice fields that are ten, twenty and 
thirty years old, and searches in vain for the parties 
w 7 ho are responsible for this dazzlingly white, shiver- 
ingly smooth and cuttingly severe state of things. 
They of course are never to be found, and finally he 
is rescued himself, nearly frozen to death, by his 
pulpit successor. 

There is the financial problem. This I find to be 
general. Preachers, stewards and deacons every- 
where are wrestling with it. The church may be 
small or large, in village or metropolis, it matters not; 



12 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

the came anxious question is before them all : How 
can we meet one thousand with five hundred, and five 
thousand with three thousand, and ten thousand with 
seven thousand? Money seems always to be tight and 
hard to come at according to the Monetary Boards of 
Zion. Each new member is taught in a single meeting 
to carry on his * brow the mournful interrogation 
" How? ", and on the second meeting to say with the 
drooping mouth u We cannot." A friend of the 
writer once labored in a church that was groaning 
under a fifteen hundred dollar financial problem ; and 
yet there sat before him nine men whose aggregated 
wealth was over ten millions of dollars. In an official 
meeting to consider the debt, they were all bowed 
down in spirit with the question, " How can we raise 
fifteen hundred dollars? " 

There is the missionary problem. How are we 
going to w T in the world for Christ? There is and can 
be no more important question. And yet at the rate 
we are going how far off does the solution appear to 
the thoughtful man. Over one hundred millions of 
heathen children are born every year. How many 
converts does the church make? What if the heathen 
children are born faster than the people become 
Christians ! 

There is the problem oi great evils in the land.. I 
mean the presence of wrong institutions, of demoraliz- 



REVIVALS. 13 

ing and corrupting agencies in our midst, the gambling 
den, saloon, club, and house of shame and death. 

There is the empty bench problem. Few churches 
but have them. Some have more than others. Some 
have more benches unoccupied than occupied. I have 
seen twenty filled and forty unfilled. I have seen two 
filled and sixty without a soul in them. What is the 
matter? What shall we do with these empty benches? 
How shall we fill them with men, women and children? 

There is the salvation problem. The church was 
sent out by Christ to be a Saving Institution; not to 
amuse, entertain, with mongrel features of restaurant 
and theatre and lyceum. It is to save souls and bring 
the world to Christ. This is its one business, and the 
when and how has long ago been told to her by the 
Saviour Himself. Is it not strange that the church 
should be sending here and there for men to help us 
do, or teach us how to do what every Christian con- 
gregation in the land ought to know and ought to be 
doing continually? And yet the problem is before us 
to-day, and never has the question gone up more fre- 
quently, How shall we get men converted to God and 
fully saved? 

I repeat that there are problems in the church; and 
I repeat that there is a blessed way of solving them. 
God has a grace and blessing that if sought and 
obtained will immediately give the triumphant answer 



14 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

to every one of these questions. The pity is that men 
will not go to God in this matter, and in the way He 
lays down ; and so time is lost and failure is protracted 
and perpetuated by the substitution of human wisdom 
and methods for a Divine plan that has never been 
known to fail. 

Look and see how wise and even good people are 
trying to meet the troubles I have mentioned. 

The social problem is handled by parlor receptions 
at the pastor's home or at the church. Looked at 
from a distance it seems to be a success, but after all 
is over the various sets and circles retire to their 
respective zones. It is also afterward remembered 
that the cordiality and friendliness seen was exchanged 
between parties already friendly. There were long 
lines of human icicles that bordered the walls, and 
great lumps of chilly material that formulated in 
groups or froze in icebergs of various size. True, some 
noble spirit who did much to bring about the " Recep- 
tion" and whose own heart was warm will say it was 
a glorious occasion; but in after days he will recall 
that he did all the running. He ran to the congested 
groups, the groups did not run to him. In fact he ran 
so much and was so melted himself that he thought 
everybody else was running and everybody else melted. 

The feud problem is undertaken and managed with 
like success. The offending parties are told their duty, 



REVIVALS, 15 

of which they were perfectly aware before. The guilty 
one is sought after but cannot be found. Both are 
innocent. Everybody is right. What is wanted is the 
Searcher of hearts ! God coming down in mighty power 
upon the soul. Then would each one cry out : " I have 
sinned," and each one say, " I am the chief of sinners." 

The Christian work problem is likewise undertaken. 
Each preacher thinks he has the secret. The pet 
scheme is to form new bands or start some fresh 
societies. Whenever a preacher fails to obtain a re- 
vival, he organizes a society of some kind. If his 
ministry is not spiritual or remarkable in winning 
souls to God, he will either form a Chautauqua Circle 
in his church or create a Chautauqua Institute in the 
neighborhood. Especially does the organizing mania 
possess him. It looks like life, real life had entered 
into the inactive body, especially during the election 
of the President, Secretary and Treasurer. But the 
movement was not born of real life, it was simply an 
electric shock that moved the limbs and raised the 
eyelids for a second, and all was still again. It was a 
rocking chair and not a steam-car movement. The 
delusion with some is that organization produces life, 
when nature and grace both alike teach that life pro- 
duces organization. 

The financial problem is grappled with. And this 
is the way it is handled. Laymen are sought after 



16 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

who understand finance. Merchants, lawyers and 
bankers are coveted for the church and when secured 
are promptly put on the official board. Preachers 
who know how to lift a collection are sought after far 
and wide, for pastors. Especially the minister who 
knows how to get money out of outsiders is felt to be 
beyond price. The brother who has a new and good 
method for raising church funds is like an angel from 
the skies. The man who invented the weekly envelope 
system is worthy of being canonized. And yet in spite 
of all these bankers, lawyers, preachers and invent- 
ive geniuses with cards and envelopes, the problem 
remains unsolved. The bankers themselves give 
it up. 

The missionary problem is grasped. Two or three 
new secretaries are thrown into the field, and the gaze 
of the people directed in horizontal lines that end in 
man instead of the vertical that lifts the eye to God. 
Little savings banks are distributed among the people. 
Surely this device will succeed, especially if we write 
the words China or Brazil on the little clay or iron toy. 
Suddenly some one suggests that the women and 
children be organized into missionary bands and so- 
cieties. All the men are enthused with the idea. The 
bankers and merchants think it is the very thing. 
Certainly ! let the women and children help the strug- 
gling, suffering men, 



REVIVALS. 17 

Another cry is made and this time we are told that 
the hens of the barnyard ought to be a mighty factor 
in settling the missionary question. At once " mis- 
sionary hens " abound. The women and children are 
forgotten for a few moments while the church turns a 
distracted gaze at the motherly old hens clucking over 
the land. If ever hens had a burden upon them, and 
a great moral obligation to lay eggs rapidly, it was 
when the church to which we belong, representing 
hundreds of millions of dollars, fell on its knees so 
to speak before those aforesaid hens and turning its 
agonized eyes upon them, said, " Lay us eggs for the 
missionary cause or we are undone." 

The empty bench problem is taken in hand. This 
is variously worked at through the medium of stately 
edifices, carpeted aisles, cushioned seats, paid choirs, 
and talented, drawing preachers. 

The salvation problem is undertaken. How shall 
souls be saved? At first it was thought to be difficult, 
but there were some who assured the church that the 
whole matter was very easy, that it consisted simply 
in raising the right hand. Numbers were thus saved. 
Truly it appeared easy and was all very delightful and 
astonishing; but when it was noticed that there was 
no change in the face at the time and none in the life 
afterward, some doubted this plan. Still there were 
other methods. One consisted in standing on the 



18 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

feet until the heads were counted. Another was going 
into a room to be talked and prayed with. Many went 
into the room to see what was going on, and some who 
were conversed with had been Christians for forty 
years. Yet they were all counted as new converts by 
the manipulator of the meeting. If these methods 
fail, then the next effort is to get them to join the 
church. By and by the preacher and people become 
accustomed to and contented with this arrangement. 
Listen to the reports made at Conference where the 
number of accessions and amount of money collected 
is emphasized and rung out, and scarcely anything 
said about conversions. 

Evidently, none of these things spoken of are able 
to meet the difficulties that exist in the church. 
Constant failure through the centuries ought to con- 
vince the most skeptical. 

Something else is needed: And that something is 
the subject of this discourse. The Revival as taught 
in the Gospel and epistles, and as seen in the second 
chapter of Acts, is the true solution of every problem 
in the church. We want the abiding presence of 
Christ, the descending sweep of the Holy Ghust, the 
overwhelming power of the Triune God. Let such a 
revival come and every question will be answered and 
every problem immediately solved. 



REVIVALS. 19 

There will be no trouble to bring the people together. 
There will scarcely be any necessity for introductions, 
and no need to beg people to visit other people. They 
will come together with a rush, drawn by the tre- 
mendous attractive power of Jesus Christ, suddenly 
implanted or set up in each. 

The individual family and church feuds w T ill end as 
suddenly as they began. Faster than the deer casts 
his antlers, the snake his skin, or the warm roof slips 
off the snow, will all these bickerings and animosities 
disappear. They will feel as did a certain man when 
suddenly filled with all the fulness of God — " for an 
enemy in order to forgive him and love him." 

If you have quarrels in your churches, aim at once 
for a revival. Nothing else will destroy them. I once 
saw five different family feuds settled in as many 
minutes w T hen the Holy Ghost had fallen in power on 
a morning service. 

There w T ill be no trouble in raising money. When 
the disciples had a genuine revival the Gospel says 
they sold all they had and no one was allowed to 
suffer. The various denominations have drifted so 
far from that apostolic spirit that they seem unable to 
appreciate that beautiful act. Men call the sacrifices 
of love of that day socialism and fanaticism. But is it 
not wonderful how the Holy Ghost fell on those so- 
called socialists and fanatics. Chrysostom says that 



20 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

the church at Antioch supported fifteen thousand 
dependent persons ! While some congregations to-day 
groan if they have eight or ten needy individuals on 
their list. I remember once a board of stewards who 
for years grumblingly allowed four dollars a month to 
a poor widow. The cause of this difference seen here 
was that the churches in Jerusalem and Antioch had 
a revival, the very thing we need all over the land 
to-day. When that revival comes the financial problem 
will be solved, and not till then. 

The missionary money question will be settled w r hen 
the Pentecost Revival comes. Before it arrives what 
begging and arguing, what demonstrating and what 
running around is required to secure some contemptible 
amount. Who is not familiar with the humiliating 
and painful spectacle of one man standing in the altar 
facing a crowd, while the oft-repeated and un-replied-to 
call u Who will give five dollars," falls upon the ear 
with the regularity and monotonousness of the voice 
of an auctioneer. 

Let the true revival come and such a scene as this 
will take place. A quiet statement by the preacher 
that so much money is needed for the Lord, a simple 
pointing to the altar table near by, a calm invitation 
to come — and then lines of people will move down 
upon the table and streams of money will be heard 
pouring on its surface. I have repeatedly seen this 



REVIVALS. 



21 



take place. At one time there had been a revival. 
Money was called for on church questions, and it 
rained, rattled and poured on the table until it rolled 
off on the ground. The sum needed was given and 
one thousand dollars over. In another place and in 
the midst of a revival blaze, the missionary call was 
made, and the immediate and rushing response was 
gold, silver, bales of cotton, and a note from a gifted 
woman, saying, " I give myself." 

Brethren, let us eat up all the missionary hens in 
the land, give the little earthen jugs and savings banks 
to the children for toys, and have a grand, glorious, 
overwhelming revival. If it comes, as certain as God 
lives and reigns the missionary problem will be solved. 

The revival will also settle the matter of Christian 
work. A preacher will not have to point out work to 
the people and beg them to do it. Neither will they 
have to come to the preacher to find out what to do. 
They will suddenly discover and make work for them- 
selves. When the Holy Ghost fills a man — mind you 
I say fills him — that man has a fire in his bones and 
cannot keep quiet. Can you sit still with a fire burn- 
ing your body? Neither can you rest with fire burning 
in your soul. When the holy fire came upon Isaiah 
he cried out, " Here am I, Lord; send me," and 
sprung to his life work. When the Baptism of Fire 
fell on the disciples, from that time to the day of their 



22 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

death they fairly flew to do the bidding of God. This 
is the blessing we need, one that will be like fire 
in the bones, such a burning as will lift people out of 
their late morning beds, and out of their easy rocking 
chairs, and drive them out from their pleasant parlors 
and libraries into the roads of the country and the 
streets of the city to save souls and bless mankind. 
A genuine revival will kindle that fire. We need no 
more organizations, no more church machinery; we 
have enough to-day to bewilder a church of twice our 
size. What we want is fire! Lord God of Heaven, 
send it down everywhere on the church as it once fell 
on Mt. Carmel, and afterwards on the day of Pentecost. 

The Revival will solve the empty bench problem. 
The apostolic revival . means that Christ has come in 
unclouded glory and in fulness of salvation. When 
Christ comes, the people come. He said long ago, 
" If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me." The 
church seems not to have realized the blessed truth. 
If w T e want the people to come, we must first get Christ 
to come, and when He is lifted up and felt to be there 
— the audience will be there. 

A revival means a good time and good things for the 
church. Let the world see that we have something 
better than they possess, and it is in human nature to 
come at once and see. The people cannot be kept 
away when we are happy in the love of God. Let us 



REVIVALS. 23 

show that we are glad, blessed, overflowing with the 
grace and glory of the Redeemer, and a great hunger 
and thirst, a mighty desire will come upon the people 
to obtain what we enjoy. There will be no need to 
ask them to come and fill the empty benches of the 
church; they will come without being asked, and there 
will be no empty benches to fill. You will not be able 
to keep the crowd away. A man might as well try to 
sweep the waves of an incoming tide fraek into the sea 
with a broom, as to keep people from coming to a 
church or building where a real revival is going on. 
The Sanhedrim might as well have tried to beat back 
the north wind with the palms of the hands, as to pre- 
vent the inhabitants of Jerusalem from rushing toward 
the Upper Room when the Holy Ghost fell and a gen- 
uine revival swept down out of heaven into the souls 
and lives of the people of God. 

Who cares to visit a church to see a few lines of peo- 
ple all stiff and frozen sitting all upright in their pews 
with no more warmth and response than is beheld in a 
set of statues. I can see stiff lines of people in the 
street cars or in fashion plates, but when I go to church 
let me look on something different. And when there 
is something different there, when hearts are warm and 
souls are glad, and faces shine with the light of salva- 
tion, the world will rush to church as they did at Pen- 
tecost. 



24 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

The revival will solve the salvation problem. It 
requires a certain atmosphere of prayer, a certain spirit- 
ual warmth or heat in the church before conversions 
can take place. Let that condition prevail and the 
salvation of souls will be frequent, beautiful and clear 
as I have ,°een grains of pop-corn suddenly expanded 
burst forth into forms of snowy whiteness through 
the heated air of the oven. No need to ask such peo- 
ple if they are * saved ; they will announce the fact 
themselves in tones and with words that will thrill 
every heart. There will not only be individual cases, 
but penitents will come through the gate of mercy in 
rejoicing bands; the Spirit will mow down lines at a 
time. The altar will be swept from end to end, filled 
again, and emptied again by the mighty pardoning 
and cleansing power of God. The faces of the converts 
will be epistles upon which will be seen the unmistaka- 
ble handwriting of God. Their cries of rapture and 
shouts of joy will pierce the hearts of the backslider 
and sinner, other and deeper convictions will take 
place, and salvation will roll on with the majestic ac- 
cumulating force and irresistible power of an ocean 
tide. 

What the church wants to-day is not a shower of 
blessing, not even a down pour; — but a torrent, leap- 
ing and dashing down the hills of heaven upon us ; a 
resistless tide of salvation that shall wash away all 



REVIVALS. 25 

forms of sin from the streets of Zion and leave her clean 
and beautiful ; a perfect Noah Deluge of grace and 
glory that will overtop the mountains of sin, bury 
worldliness out of sight, while the redeemed, shut in 
the ark of Christ Jesus, sail triumphantly over the 
dead forms of iniquity far beneath them. 

What the church wants is a revival, deep, broad, 
profound, far-reaching, heart-searching, life-changing, 
permanent and Pentecostal. Such a revival would 
settle at once every difficulty, and solve every problem. 
We are simply wasting time and energy in trying to do 
anything else until we secure that. We are making 
no progress. We are trotting hard all day in the 
shade of one tree. We are climbing up ten feet one 
day and slipping back nine feet and twelve inches the 
next day. Sometimes we slip still lower. We are 
beating the air. 

It would pay the church to turn its attention from 
every enterprise in its walls and borders and go to 
seeking a revival. It would pay the church to shut 
up stores and offices, leave boats and plantations, give 
up money-making and money-saving, let the mission- 
ary work alone for a year, let everything alone, forget 
almost to eat and sleep, — and falling on its knees and 
face pray God importunately, continuously, persis- 
tently and inconsolably for a revival, and do this if 
needs be for a year. 



26 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

O, how it would pay ! How the world would stand 
in awe. How Christ would come as John saw Him 
on Patmos. How God would bend the heavens. The 
Holy Ghost would rush upon us with the sweep of a 
storm and speak to us through living tongues of fire, 
while sinners would cry out for mercy, saints rejoice 
in the fulness of salvation, money be poured out like 
water before the Lord, every work and enterprise of 
the church bear the smiles and blessings of heaven 
upon it, and Christ's kingdom become the reigning, 
triumphant, overshadowing kingdom of the world. 

Son of God, blessed Jesus, send us the revival 
of Pentecost ! May all the people say Amen. 



II. 

HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 

"Prepare ye the way of the Lord ; make his paths straight.' ' 
—Matt. 3:3. 

THE Lord Jesus has not only come to the world, 
but is willing to enter the individual heart. 
This coming is what is needed above all things. 
It is what the nations need. It is the desirable thing 
for the community and the family. Above all it is 
everything to the soul. 

When Christ comes it is at once recognized. There 
is no need to enter into an argument to prove that the 
Spirit of the Lord has fallen upon a congregation and 
fills the church. The instant this takes place it is 
known. I recall once in a revival meeting that on the 
fifth day the Holy Ghost fell on the audience, and the 
house was filled with glory. A gentleman leaped to 
his feet with the thrilling cry — " Jesus has come!" 
He only spoke what every one felt and knew. 

In like manner when Christ enters the soul, the fact 
cannot be concealed. As the Scripture said of Him 
that when He entered a certain house He could not be 
hid, so is it still; to enter the heart with His blessed 
grace and glory so illumines the face, softens the heart, 

27 



28 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

sweetens the spirit and fires the life, that all can see 
that Jesus has come. 

In a great revival conducted by Dr. Finney, in a 
New England town, an unconverted man felt the pres- 
ence of God one mile beyond the corporation lines. In 
First Church, St. Louis, during the gracious six weeks' 
meeting I held, a number of persons said that they 
felt the Divine presence not only when they entered 
the building, but even before crossing the portal. He 
that drew a line around Mt. Sinai, and made it to come 
to pass that whoever crossed it was shot through with 
a dart, still draws the marvellous circle and manu- 
factures the same flaming arrows that penetrate the 
most callous with a sense of the Divine presence. 

The coming of Christ means salvation we all know. 
But it also means blessedness. One cannot secure 
Christ without being blessed; whether nation, com- 
munity, family or individual it is all the same; the 
presence of Jesus and blessedness go together. 

The interesting thought is how to secure that coming 
and presence. That is the important inquiry of this 
sermon. 

1. THE FIRST STEP IS THAT CHRIST MUST BE INVITED. 

It is true that He has a right to come, and His com- 
ing brings a blessing, but such is His nature and such 
is our nature, that He will not come until He is asked 



HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 29 

to come. It is curious to see how we wait for invita- 
tions before going to certain places, and yet look for 
the Lord to force Himself upon us. I notice that even 
the kings of earth expect and tarry for invitations to visit 
cities and nations. So does the King of heaven; He 
never comes to dwell with us until we ask Him. 

2. THE SECOND STEP IS THAT CHRIST MUST BE DESIRED. 

We all find it a very difficult and oftentimes an im- 
possible thing to go where we are not wanted. The 
fact that we are longed for and expected makes for us 
a sunlight of happiness and generates an atmosphere 
in which the soul is perfectly free and at its best. 
There are places where some of you are so desired that 
you feel actually drawn as by a magnet to the indi- 
vidual or circle. 

It is well for us to remember that we are made in the 
image of God, and that He has transplanted or repro- 
duced in us certain sensibilities and motions of the 
Divine breast. It is evident that the Saviour is much 
freer in some churches and in the lives of some people 
than in others. He is not able to do mighty works in 
certain hearts and localities, being tied up by unbelief. 

So He is powerless to reveal His most delightful 
features, or even to show Himself at all to some per- 
sons or places because He is not wanted. Christ does 
not propose to come where He is not yearned for. In 



30 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

fact He cannot do so. The reason can be found in our 
free agency, and also in the sensitiveness of the Divine 
love. But only let us sigh for His presence and yearn 
for His companionship and lo, He will suddenly and 
gladly appear in our midst. He is the desire of the 
nations already in being what we need for salvation, 
happiness and usefulness, but He must also be desired 
with ardent longings of the heart if we would possess 
this " Chief among ten thousand and the one alto- 
gether lovely.'' 



We read in history that when earthly potentates 
determined to visit a town or province that the people 
prepared the roads for his coming. Sometimes a spe- 
cial highway was constructed; and always work was 
put forth on the thoroughfare along which Royalty was 
expected. Even in the reception of our friends we see 
a preparation of this sort in the sweeping of the yard 
and front steps, the removal of every unsightly thing 
and the putting in place still other things that would 
serve to grace the occasion and please the eye of the 
visitor. So we must prepare the way for the Lord. 

If there is no preparation, He will not come. This 
fact explains why some men are to-day unconverted 
and others unsanctified. They have not done the 
things that the Lord desires and demands. 



HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 31 

It is also well to state that some preparation is no 
preparation. I recall certain protracted meetings that 
were projected on a grand scale in regard to dimension 
of hall, number of chairs, thickness of sawdust, and 
lines of electric lights. There was also a broad gallery 
for the best singers in the city, and a deep platform 
for prominent workers and preachers. Everything 
was furnished but the one essential thing, the falling 
fire of the Holy Ghost. Every preparation had been 
made save the indispensable one of humbling the heart 
and prostrating body and soul in the dust before the 
Lord. This was never done, and so the gigantic mate- 
rial preparation came to naught. What does God care 
for chairs, sawdust, electric lights, drilled musicians 
and general ecclesiastical display ! If He gave the 
victory under such circumstances men would suppose 
that the great platform and big workers did it. 

Some preparation is no preparation. All of us are 
getting to see this. I saw once in one of our largest 
cities the walls placarded with flaming posters telling 
the public that all the ministers of the city had united 
in a certain meeting; that all the choirs of these 
churches had joined together; and that a most suc- 
cessful national evangelist would lead the battle ! This 
famous meeting dragged its way along for a month and 
ended as it began, in wind. In still another city forty 
churches combined to get up (?) a revival. The forty 



32 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

pastors sat on a great platform with leading laymen, 
and the greatest orators among them vied with each 
other night after night to see who could over-shoot or 
out-blaze the other. As a test of forensic excellence it 
was a success, but as a Holy Ghost revival it was from 
start to finish an utter failure. It lasted about forty 
days, and afterwards the people were ahungered. The 
papers announced at the beginning that these forty 
clergymen were going to have a revival, and columns 
were devoted to the first few services, but something 
was so evidently lacking, that the press finally quit 
reporting the wretched travesty of a revival, and the 
human spurt ended its feeble and short life without a 
mourner and without an obituary. 

Some preparation is no preparation. What are car- 
pets and chandeliers and carved pews and trained 
singers to God! Does He care for these things? Can 
He who hung out sun, moon and stars for lights, and 
painted the Western sky, and carpeted the earth, and 
put melody in wind, wave, and throats of myriads of 
birds be bribed into coming to us by our tawdry eccle- 
siastical finery and platform yelling? He dwelt once 
for centuries in a tent, and filled the log meetinghouses 
of our forefathers with His excellent glory. Evidently 
He wants another kind of preparation. 

Some preparation is no preparation. Saul got ready 
for Him in his way. Alas for the King of Israel that 



HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 38 

it was his way and not the Divine way. He even be- 
came so impatient to have the Lord to come, that he 
offered the sacrifice with his own hands ; but the skies 
were locked, and there was no response. He after- 
wards said about it with a bitter wail, " He answereth 
me no more; neither by prophets nor by dreams." 
God was both silent and invisible. He will only come 
in His way. 

Some preparation is no preparation. The prophets 
of Baal slew their sacrifices and placed it on the altar 
and cried from morning until noon. They even cut 
themselves with lancets until their blood gushed, but 
there was no answer from the skies. The great vault 
above was as empty, still, and echoless as if there was 
no God. 

Men are finding out that some preparation is no 
preparation. The sooner all discover it the better. 
The church that waits unavailingly on God for days 
and nights without answering fire from heaven, may 
reasonably feel alarm. And the man who declares he 
is seeking God and cannot find Him; who says he has 
done all he can and Christ does not come into his heart 
and life, may know once for all, that he has overlooked 
some heavenly condition, neglected some essential 
duty; in a word, he has not prepared the way of the 
Lord. 



34 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

We are told in Isaiah 40 : 4 what this preparation is. 
It is repeated in Luke 3 : 5. 

" Every valley shall be filled." 

This was what was done in constructing a highway 
for earthly kings ; the valleys were exalted or filled 
up. The spiritual meaning is that if we desire the 
Saviour to come into our lives the great vacancies and 
hollows of life standing for neglected prayer, omitted 
Bible reading and other forsaken duties must be 
attended to. There are many such ignored and des- 
pised obligations. Like valleys they yawn before us, 
and how deep they are. They must be filled. 

" Every mountain and hill shall be brought low." 

This was necessary to make a road worthy for a 
king to travel upon in the olden times. It is what is 
done to-day to give us the iron thoroughfares of com- 
merce; the valley is filled up and the hill is cut down. 
It is what we are to do to get Christ to enter our 
churches and hearts with glorious power Pride is a 
mountain; unbelief is a mountain. There are many 
high things that have to come down before the Saviour 
will ever sweep into our souls. 

" The crooked shall be made straight." 

I visited the Appian Way when I was in Rome and 
observed that it ran as straight as an arrow. If earthly 
monarchs desire straight highways upon w r hich to travel, 
how much more does a holy God. Christ will not come 



HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 35 

to the soul upon any other than a straight way ; He will 
not travel upon a crooked route. Before He saved Saul 
of Tarsus He made him move on a street called 
" Straight. " And on that same street we all have to 
live if we would know Jesus. We must do the straight 
thing, get straight with everybody, and determine to 
live the straight life. The instant a man does this the 
Spirit rushes into him. The moment a church gets 
right with God the Lord enters. 

Men ask God to straighten them, when this is our 
duty and work. The command is to us, to " prepare 
ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." 

I have never failed to notice, that if a man will 
straighten his outward life, God will straighten the in- 
ward nature. This is not a salvation by works, but 
that rectification of conduct and life without which 
God will not look upon us, much less fill us with His 
glorious presence. 

Now, let us look at this straightening, which is the 
the preparation Christ demands as the condition of His 
coming unto and into us. 

First, of course, is repentance. 

This is not only in the order, but in the very neces- 
sity of things. We must grieve with a godly sorrow 
for what we have done or left undone toward God. 
Just as the hand is not extended nor smile given by 
the parent if the child shows no compunction; so are 



36 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

the heavens like impenetrable brass and "God is silent 
to the impenitent soul. Let the heart swell with grief, 
let the lips say, " I am sorry," and ere the tears can 
fall from the eyes, the angels are rejoicing in heaven 
over the scene. They know w T hat it means ; that the 
skies are opening, the Spirit descending and salvation 
rushing to that soul. 

In Ezra we read that the Jews trembled before God 
at the remembrance of their transgressions. The rain 
fell upon them as they stood in the street, but they 
endured every discomfort that they might find peace 
with God. Of course the Divine blessing came. 

When I saw the Jews in their Wailing Place in Jeru- 
salem, I had a vision of the luxury and blessedness of 
tears. Oh, that the people everywhere w T ould begin to 
w r eep before God. Oh, for melted hearts and w^et eyes 
in every pew of the church as w r ell as around the altar. 
These very tears would be as telescopes to the penitent 
soul to see into the heavens, and as a mighty influence 
to bring the Lord dow r n into our hearts. A w T eeping 
or grieving child draw r s the parent instantly to its 
side, and so, thank God, it is the same in the spirit- 
ual life. 

Another preparation is the forsaking of every known 
sin. 

It is utterly vain to expect Christ to take possession 
of us while there is committed sin in the life. The 



HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 37 

face of the Lord was turned from His people at Ai be- 
cause of a single transgression. Until the golden 
wedge and Babylonish garment buried under the tent 
was dug up and burned, the Divine countenance re- 
mained averted, and Israel blundered about in dark- 
ness, confusion and galling defeat. If I regard iniquity 
in my heart, says David, the Lord will not hear me. 
Think of a clerk asking forgiveness of a merchant with 
stolen money in his pocket. And what if the mer- 
chant knows it. How can one ask and the other ex- 
tend pardon. The thing is morally impossible. The 
Bible distinctly states that it is our iniquities that sepa- 
rate us from God. If this be so, then the giving up 
of these iniquities must be the condition of restored 
Divine nearness and favor. As I have heard people 
repeatedly affirming the impossibility of living without 
sin, I have wondered at the ignorance shown in such 
speeches of the Word of God. So far is it from being 
impossible for a child of God to live a blameless life, 
the Bible distinctly states that the unconverted man 
himself must cease sinning before God will pardon 
him. In Isaiah 55 :7, we read, " Let the wicked for- 
sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; 
and let him return unto the Lord and he will have 
mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abun- 
dantly pardon." 

A third preparation is restitution. 



38 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

This indeed is included in the previous thought, but 
deserves a distinct notice. It is wonderful how care- 
less some people are here. They give up the ball room 
and theatre at the demand of the gospel, and yet slur 
over or forget certain wrongs of the past that should be 
rectified. The Saviour Himself distinctly tells us when 
we come to His altar with our gift and remember 
such a wrong, to hunt up the aggrieved brother and 
make all right with him first, and then come to the 
altar. Zaccheus had the matter right when he ex- 
claimed, " If I have taken anything from any man— I 
restore him four fold." 

Recently a ministerial brother told me of a man 
whom he had met in the West, and who had become 
deeply convicted in his meeting, went repeatedly to 
the altar, but could not obtain the grace of pardon and 
salvation. Various were the charitable explanations 
upon the part of the audience, among which of course 
figured " intellectual difficulties." But one day while 
w r alking with the evangelist, he made the confession 
that some years before while driving his cattle over the 
plain, a stray cow got in his drove, and he sold her 
along with the rest. "Now," he said, " when I come 
to that altar I see that cow dashing before my eyes, 
and she fairly fills the landscape." The preacher 
replied, "You must return her value to the owner." 
"This," the man said, " I have determined to do." 



HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 39 

And he did so, and as lie did, the joy of forgiveness 
swept into his soul. The animal was only worth 
twenty dollars, but it was everything to Him who has 
identified Himself with every wronged individual on 
earth, and who is preparing a world for the pure and 
true and good. 

A fourth is seen in Reconciliation. 

The importance of this is seen in the words of the 
Saviour, "If you forgive not men their trespasses 
neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your 
trespasses. " Surely no reasoning, or argument is 
needed here to show the necessity of this transaction. 
Christ will not come into an unforgiving soul. But 
how gladly will He show mercy to the merciful. 

One of the greatest revivals I ever witnessed began 
with five or six public reconciliations one morning in 
church. A woman impelled by the Spirit of God 
arose and openly begged pardon of another lady in 
the audience. In twenty seconds they were in each 
others arms. A grown daughter flew into the arms of 
her mother from whom she had been estranged. Two 
other persons stood up and asked the pastor to forgive 
them for having talked about him. With tears run- 
ning down his face he extended his hands to them 
telling them he had not a doubt but he deserved 
criticism. Two gentlemen met each other in the aisle, 
locked hands, and while one confessed the other 



40 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

forgave, and in a moment they were embracing with 
happy smiles and shouts. So it went on, and heaven 
came down, and the glory of the Transfiguration 
Mount seemed to fall on the whole assembly. I have 
beheld many wondrous scenes of grace, but for tender- 
ness of Spirit, melting hearts, flaming love and pure 
heavenliness, I have scarcely ever seen anything that 
surpassed the history of that morning. The revival 
broke out that very hour, and swept on for two years 
afterward. It is only another way of saying that 
Jesus came down and took posession of the church. 

Fifth there are certain duties and obligations to God. 

There are such Divine debts and duties. Religion 
is not to be confined simply to human relations. 
There are two tables of the Law, and the first had 
reference entirely to what is due the Lord. We owe 
things to men, but w T e also owe things to God. We 
pay the butcher, baker and doctor; we need also to 
be right with God on the financial as well as on other 
lines. It is amazing to see how men keep their 
accounts straight with their fellow men, and yet are 
careless in their contributions and obligations to the 
church, which is the abode of their God. If we look 
at the dwellings that by thousands line the streets of 
our great cities you will find that the vast majority 
have the rental account paid up to date, but over 
against that is the sorrowful and amazing fact that 



HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 41 

with the exception of one or two endowed buildings, 
there is not a church in all the land but has or has had 
a debt upon it. Deficits in the Missionary Treasury, 
deficits in the preacher's and sexton's salary, and debts 
unsettled for coal, gas, and past services. 

Meantime the church wonders why everything feels 
so spiritually barren and dead. They are serving a 
God who calls Himself a jealous God, and yet wonder 
why He does not bless them and make them overrun 
with spiritual life and gladness, when He sees every 
debt but His own paid, while reproach gathers thereby 
on His servants, His house and His cause. 

In a certain large Southern city a protracted meeting 
had been going on for over a month without any drops 
of mercy from the skies or ''sound of going in the 
trees " of salvation. The best of preachers were hold- 
ing forth, and the most eloquent of prayers, and 
and finest of singing echoed along the arched walls and 
stuccoed ceiling; still the fire did not fall, and Jesus 
would not manifest Himself. One morning a gentle- 
man belonging to the church requested other male 
members to meet him in the lecture room. On 
assembling he said : 

"You all know, brethren, that we have been trying 
to secure a revival here for weeks, and we seem no 
nearer to it to-day than we did a month ago. The 
question is what is the matter? That something is 



42 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

the matter all can see. Has it occurred to you that 
the trouble is that we have been carrying a church 
debt of fifteen thousand dollars for over ten years? 
And has it also occurred to you that we as a congrega- 
tion are amply able to pay it? It is my firm belief 
that God will never come down and fill and bless 
our church until we settle this obligation. I, for one, 
will give one thousand dollars, what will you do? 

In less than fifteen minutes the debt which had been 
for years a thorn in their sides, a reproach to their 
church, and a grief to God, was paid. The same 
evening in the next service the heavenly fire fell, and 
the power of God came down. The revival that fol- 
lowed saw hundreds of souls swept into the kingdom. 

4. THE FOURTH STEP OR CONDITION OF CHRIST'S COM- 
ING TO US IS THAT HE MUST BE BESOUGHT 
TO COME. 

See the order; invited, desired, prepared for, and 
besought. Even after having been invited, and pre- 
pared for, He must be entreated to come. It is not 
enough to ask and desire His coming. He must be 
importuned. The simple invitation is not sufficient. 

Here is the explanation of the failure of many. 
Numbers have said to me, "I have asked Christ to 
come in; why does He not do so. I have done all I 
can." How carelessly they spoke about the matter. 



HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 43 

No wonder Christ did not come. If the Syrophenican 
woman had stopped with her first request, she never 
would have received that gracious look and heard the 
thrilling words "great is thy faith, be it unto thee even 
as thou wilt. 1 ' She swept past the realm of careless 
invitation, got to begging and conquered. 

The careless invitation is not regarded anywhere. 
Suppose you try it on some one, or let some one try it 
on you. Let some person with an absent minded look 
and heedless manner say, "Come down and see us 
sometime. " Do you go? Have you not had thou- 
sands of such invitations, and to which you paid no 
attention afterwards. But suppose the invitation is 
after this style, "You must come down and see us. 
Wife often speaks of j r ou. The children constantly 
ask after you. The whole family told me to-day to be 
certain to bring you. Now when will you come. Do 
not put it off until to-morrow. Say you will come to- 
day, that you will go with me now. I cannot let you 
off. Won't you come? " Of course you go. How can 
you help it. And then it was so pleasant to be thus 
constrained by people who loved you and whom you 
loved. 

Do you know that God can be constrained, and that 
He loves us to press our suit upon Him. Jacob never 
uttered more delightful words to the Almighty than 
when in that midnight wrestle he said, "I will not let 



44 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

thee go except thou bless me." Just afterwards the 
Word says, "And He," that is, God, "blessed him 
there." And right "there" in such a spirit and deter- 
mination and importuning and waiting we will all be 
blessed. 

I have had people to tell me that their idea is to tell 
God what they want at once, and then let the whole 
matter alone. These persons have not read the Bible 
understanding^ ; and certainly they do not know yet 
the secret of victory in prayer. Abraham secured the 
angels by running after them. The disciples obtained 
the risen Christ by pressing Him to sup with them at 
Emmaus. The woman from Canaan got her entire 
request by hanging on to Christ in spite of three dis- 
tinct rebuffs. The Capernaum nobleman invited the 
Saviour to come down and heal his son. The reply 
would have discouraged many whom you and I know ; 
but the nobleman turning his tear-filled eyes upon 
Jesus simply said: "Come down, Lord, ere my son 
die." He begged, and Jesus went. 

Have you invited Christ to come? That is not 
enough. Do you desire Him? The land is full of 
people who desire, but do not get Him. This also is 
not sufficient. Have you prepared the way for Him? 
Yes, you say but still He does not come. Then the 
explanation is that you have neglected the beseeching 
and importuning. You do not understand why that 



HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 45 

should be done. Never mind about understanding it, 
only do it, and you will soon have reason to praise 
God for having done so, forever and ever! 

This I have found that he who prays most, knows 
most of God, and posesses most of the Spirit of God. 
Men who like Luther, Wesley, Brainard and others 
prayed three hours a day, not only obtained the mind 
of Christ, but also the deepest secrets of heaven. 
I have also found that importunate and persistent 
prayer will cause Christ to enter any life, and descend 
upon any church or community. The question is 
who can bring this about. I answer: 

Any town, city or nation can bring the Lord down 
upon the people. Nineveh clothed itself in sack- 
cloth and turned to God with lamentation and prayer; 
and the Almighty rolled away its iniquity and smiled 
in pardon and peace upon the troubled inhabitants. 
Again and again the Jews as a people and nation 
would humble themselves before God in time of defeat 
and affliction, and the Lord would descend with 
mighty power, scattering their enemies and filling them 
with songs of praise and shouts of victory. It can be 
done to-day. If the people of any country would 
assemble in their churches and call on God with repen- 
tance, turning from sin and looking to Christ; heaven 
would answer in grace and glory; and no matter to 
what that nation had drifted or sunk, it would be lifted 



46 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

up from that very hour in honor, prosperity, happiness 
and blessedness above other nations. 

But some will say we could never get an entire 
nation thus to wait on God, so the suggestion is 
vain. If this be so then I reply : 

A congregation of believers can do it. This was 
what w r as done at Pentecost. One hundred and twenty 
souls, praying for ten days brought the power of God 
down upon Jerusalem. The same thing can be done 
to-day and is being done. This is what I aim for in 
every one of my meetings, to get the church to praying. 
After a few days the result is unmistakeable in the 
general conviction on the town, and the clear cases of 
free and full salvation at the altar. Many times I have 
seen whole communities stirred and swept as a wind 
moves a wheat field, and the power come down from 
heaven in answer to the tears and cries of God's people 
sent up day after day in the special hours set apart for 
prayer. It is in the power of the church to-day to put 
the world on its knees and face. Let the churches 
everywhere be filled with men and women pleading for 
the salvation of sinners, and the God of heaven and 
earth would answer as He only can by direct influence 
on mind, conscience and heart, and the ranks of the 
unsaved would be swept with cyclones of conviction 
and repentance, and the slain of the Lord would be 
everywhere. 



HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 47 

But some one says suppose we cannot get an entire 
congregation to thus unite? 

Then two believers can do it. 

What says the Bible, "When two on earth are 
agreed as touching anything, it shall be done." 

Dr. Finney of evangelistic fame remembered this and 
never rested until he had one other person agonizing 
in prayer with himself for an out-pouring of the Holy 
Spirit upon his meeting. At one place he had a par- 
ticularly long struggle. One night after midnight 
while on the floor praying for God to come, he heard 
the sounds of a voice in interceding prayer in the room 
about him. Going to his door and listening, he dis- 
covered that it was the voice of a godly woman in the 
house, and heard her sighs and sobs and petitions that 
God would send down the grace and power of salvation 
on the town. Dr. Finney with a happy smile closed 
his door and returned triumphant to his room saying, 
"We have the scriptural number of two, and shall have 
the victory." It came the next day in great power. 

This blessed fact saves us from despair when we find 
we cannot get one hundred and twenty or even a 
less number of the church together to pray down a 
revival. Two can do it. Christ says so. If any two 
agree on having a revival, and keep praying, it shall be 
done, says the Son of God. But suppose that two 
such people cannot be found? 



48 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Then one believer can do it. 

What does the Saviour say here? "If ye abide in 
me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye 
will, and it shall be done unto you." 

How the Bible and life itself have proved the truth 
of those words. Elijah locked and unlocked the 
heavens with a prayer. Elisha prayed the dead bock 
to life. Joshua prayed the sun and moon into sta- 
tionary positions for hours, and on another occasion 
prayed departed victory back to the ranks of the dis- 
couraged children of Israel. Knox kept praying to 
God, "Give me Scotland or I die," and God gave him 
the land he prayed for. 

Fletcher would never go into the pulpit unless he 
realized the Divine presence and felt the assurance of 
victory. So he stained the walls of his study with the 
breath of his ardent supplications. One Sabbath day 
the hour of preaching had arrived, and he was not in 
the pulpit. The audience waited for awhile and then 
some one was dispatched to his study to see w r hat 
detained him. The messenger returned saying that 
Mr. Fletcher was evidently engaged in his room with 
some individual, for he heard him say to him, "I will 
not go unless you go with me." By and by Mr. 
Fletcher appeared with his face shining. The One he 
had been talking to, had come with him. All could 



HOW TO OBTAIN A REVIVAL. 49 

see that. Who wonders that a steady revival flamed 
and glowed in his church. 

A woman in Kentucky prayed fifteen years for a 
revival that would upheave the town in which she 
lived. It looked to some that the prayer would never 
be answered. Doubtless many smiled over that oft- 
repeated supplication, "Revive thy work, Oh God in 
this place." But she held on in faith. God heard 
the prayer, and by a most remarkable chain of circum- 
stances prepared the messenger, and at last sent him 
to answer the prayer of that faithful heart. She saw 
the town moved as it never had been before, and hun- 
dreds converted, reclaimed and sanctified. The speaker 
before you conducted that wonderful meeting. 

An elderly lady in one of our largest Western cities 
craved to see a genuine scriptural revival. The church 
which she belonged to would not pray for it. Neither 
could she find another person like-minded with 
herself about the matter. She determined to pray 
alone. She remembered the promise: "Ye shall 
ask what ye will and it shall be done." Obtain- 
ing a key to one of the rooms in the basement of 
the church she began her regular morning visits of 
an hour, to be spent in lonely but not the less faithful 
and fervent prayer. She had been going some days 
when a gentleman acquaintance saw her and asked her 
where she had been. She replied, "To meeting. " 



50 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

"Did you have a good one," he innocently asked. 

"Yes," she said, "We had a splendid time." 

"Who was there," the man asked. 

"The Lord and myself," was the surprising answer. 

In a few days a more general attention was excited 
by the lonely visitor, and as the fact came out that she 
was there praying God to send a revival upon the 
church and community, others smitten in conscience 
melted in heart and drawn in spirit, joined her. The 
room was soon filled, the power came down, and a 
great revival swept through the church. 

Is it not enough to make your hearts leap and souls 
begin to burn to think that any one of you now listen- 
ing to me can pray God's precious, beautiful and all 
powerful salvation down upon worldly communities, 
lifeless churches, and the sorrowful, heartbroken and 
lost nations of the earth. 

Think of it ! immortal souls can be saved through 
us. Hell and Satan can be defeated, and heaven peo- 
pled through our prayers. Let us be up and at it! 
To your knees oh people of God. Down on your 
faces with sobs, tears and cries. Who will pray. 
Who will keep on praying and looking and expecting 
while God answers ! for a spirit of prayer such as 
Moses and Paul had. O to pray all night like Jesus 
did. Lord, increase our faith. O Christ, hear our 
prayer. O Son of God, answer by the Baptism of Fire. 



III. 

SIN AND SALVATION. 

"There is no difference; for all have sinned and come 
short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace 
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." — Rom. 3 : 
22, 23, 24. 

0NE of the world's hobbies is the erection of class 
barriers and social distinctions. We hear of 
blue blood as opposed to and superior to the 
red fluid that flows through the veins of the multitude. 
We hear of the classes over against the masses ; and 
of "upper tendom " and the "five hundred." One 
w T ould suppose from certain extreme views that there 
must have been a plurality of races, and instead of 
one Adam there were four or five. 

There are times when these differences' so studiously 
preserved and contended for will disappear. One is 
the Judgment Day. Titles, ranks, dignities, caste and 
all go down together in that hour when the mountains 
crash even with the plain and the skies are all aflame. 
No one will think of contending for these arbitrary 
and evanescent creations of men when nature is groan- 
ing in death throes, and the race is required to possess 
but one thing and that character. 

51 



52 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Another time is a period of common peril. All of 
us have seen the great leveling power of a general 
danger. Men look and act like brothers on the street 
who have not spoken before, and the woman of wealth 
holds anxious converse over the garden gate with her 
poor neighbor as though both had been rocked in the 
same cradle, and warmed at the same fireside, and no 
social gulf had ever rolled between. 

A third time is seen when the gospel comes down in 
pow T er upon the community. Under its light and 
wondrous influence, all classes and ranks feel their 
marvellous likeness in moral weakness and spiritual 
need. As the gospel teachings take hold upon the 
congregation how wonderfully alike all become. 

So with these hints to begin with w r e advance the 
thought that in spite of all our boasted dissimilarities 
in the social and intellectual life, yet in certain all 
important things, there is no difference among us. 

1. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE IN OUR BEING BORN 
WITH A BAD HEART. 

We have been born in different kinds of houses, 
from a palace to a hovel; and some are princes and 
some beggars ; some see the light w r ith a gold spoon in 
their mouths, some w r ith a silver, some with an iron, 
and some with no spoon at all. Yet all are born with 
this bad heart. 



SIN AND SALVATION. 53 

Of course there are those who protest here, and 
argue and deny; but I must believe God rather than 
man. The Book says we are " born in sin and con- 
ceived in iniquity,*' that "the whole head is sick,*' 
"the whole heart faint, 7 * that the heart is like " a cage 
of unclean birds," etc., etc. 

In confirmation of this thought, we ask where does 
the wickedness of the world come from. Not from the 
air or water. Christ says, " Out of the heart.'* Fur" 
thermore we observe that people do not have to get old 
to become wicked. The ghastly crimes of this century 
have been committed by young men. The vast ma- 
jority of the convicts in the penitentiaries are young 
men. In disturbances at religious meetings it is the 
rarest thing to find elderly people guilty of misdoing, 
but nearly always the misconduct springs from those 
in their teens. The heart is evidently born bad. 

In rebuttal of this, men say to me, that they know 
some people who have never been converted, and are 
not religious, and yet are kind, nice, and lovely 
altogether. 

The answer I give to this is that there are several 
ways to account for these lovely, respectable and well 
behaved sinners. One is the absence of favoring cir- 
cumstance. They have not yet had the peculiar con- 
ditions surrounding them that will sap their fancied 
strength in a moment and show them how ignorant 



54 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

they have been of themselves. Another reason is the 
fear of conscience. There are people to-day who would 
gladly sin, but they are not willing to endure the 
mental agony that they know is certain to come as the 
result. So they behave themselves. A third reason 
is fear of public opinion. And a fourth , the dread of 
civil punishment. In a word there is restraint upon 
them. See how it works. 

Did you ever look on a city prison or penitentiary 
and notice how well behaved and orderly the convicts 
were? What is the matter with them? The answer 
is Fear! If they do not behave they will be loaded 
with chains and dumped into the dark cell with bread 
and water. So look at the people on the street. How 
well behaved these unconverted people are. What 
makes them so nice and law abiding. The fact is they 
must do right or be punished. I have looked at a 
large venomous reptile in a glass box. How mild and 
well mannered he was. But we all knew if he was 
out, what stings would be given by his fangs, or what 
cracking of bones there would be under his twisting 
folds. The box made him orderly. So have we all 
seen the cobra-gleam in the eye of men and women 
who would sting and crush if they could, but the glass 
box of public opinion or civil punishment kept them 
orderly and harmless. 



SIN AND SALVATION. 55 

But that is not the case with me says some one. 
Then there are three explanations to be given, one is 
that you are sanctified and the heart is pure. Or as a 
regenerated man you are living in prayer and keeping 
down the dark nature in you; or third, if you are an 
unconverted man the declaring circumstance of your 
life has not yet come. 

Something of the deep inborn depravity of the heart > 
and its terrible possibilities is seen in the lives Gf 
Hazael, Robespierre, and Tamerlane. The first of 
these three was much shocked when Elisha wdth pro- 
phetic vision told him how he was going to desolate 
the land and murder the people even to the women 
and children. But he lived to see the day when he 
did all the dreadful things the prophet said he would. 
As for Robespierre we read that in his early manhood 
he resigned a certain municipal position because he 
was required to pronounce sentence of death on the 
guilty. In ten or fifteen years from that time he was 
an incarnate devil and the guillotine in Paris was con- 
stantly falling on the necks of people at his command. 
As for Tamerlane we are told in history that he was 
like other youths in the beginning of his life, at one 
time weeping over a dead bird, but the inborn devil 
arose in his heart and through his power over a 
million people were slain. 



56 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

In the early part of their lives there was seen no 
greater sign of wickedness than is seen in most children 
and youths. The peculiar ferocity and devilishness 
that made millions to mourn had not yet appeared. 
There was no call for it. It slumbered on. But the 
favoring circumstance at last came, and the full in- 
ward blackness and badness sprang forth to the horror 
and mourning of multitudes. 

A horrible thought is that when this latent evil 
comes forth in any of its myriad expressions it appears 
full grown! Did any of you ever notice that when a 
certain provocation came to you and you fell into 
some kind of wrong doing, that the sin was full grown. 
That when you got angry, it was no case of evolution, 
but you were mad all over at once. The passion or 
fury did not develop but leaped out of the heart, and 
from eye to lip, full fledged, completely armed or 
entirely grown as the case may be. You had no infant 
on your hands requiring care, but a giant altogether 
managing you. 

And yet only the day before you had made the 
remark how gentle and kind you felt toward every- 
body. You were patting yourself on the head so to 
tspeak and smoothing yourself down when suddenly 
the arranged hair stood on end like bristles, and 
instead of being a cooing dove you recognized in you 



SIN AND SALVATION. 57 

the growl and claws of a catamount. The arousing 
and declaring circumstance had come. 

S. S. Prentiss was once delivering a political speech 
from the top of a cage belonging to a menagerie. The 
audience stood before him, encircled with the rest of 
the cages containing the wild beasts. At a certain 
point in his speech Mr. Prentiss discovered an auger 
hole in the top of the cage on which he stood. At the 
moment he was saying that " If the opposition should 
do what they propose doing, it is enough to make all 
the beasts of the field to howl in fury " — he suddenly 
ran his walking cane through the hole and sharply 
prodded a lion. The great brute leaped to his feet 
and roared, and it seemed to be the signal for a general 
outburst from the whole menagerie, for in five seconds 
every animal was on his feet and the air fairly trembled 
with the combined throat thunder. 

I have recalled this scene more than once, and 
thought this is the way w 7 ith the dark nature of w T hich 
we are speaking. It lies as quietly within as did the 
slumbering tigers in their cages. When lo, the un- 
expected circumstance like the walking stick stirs up 
the resting or dozing sin, and the man to his amaze- 
ment finds he has a roaring menagarie of evil inside. 
Some of you had better not congratulate yourselves 
too soon. The only reason you are quiet, and have 
thus far gotten along so well, is that the walking stick 



58 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

which is to reach you in the most sensitive place 
has not yet been thrust at you. The devil knows 
where the auger hole is, and he is looking for the 
walking stick. Look out ! my boasting, well satisfied 
brother. In the providence of God you will yet find 
out that you have a slumbering lion within you. How 
I pity you the day the walking stick reaches him, and 
he roars and shakes the human cage. 

Some years ago one of the petty kings of New Zealand 
visited England. It was said by one who wrote up 
the visit and described the barbarian chief that he was 
of a very kind and gentle nature unless some one 
crossed and provoked him; then he became beside 
himself. On one occasion he caught a man who had 
worried him, in his hands, swung him high above his 
head, shook him in the air and brought him down with 
a crash on the floor. How many people you and I 
know who are like the New Zealand chief. Let them 
have their way in all things and they are just lovely, 
but just provoke or cross them and then come experi- 
ences of an earthquake or cyclone order. 

2. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE IN ALL HAVING SINNED. 

The text puts this beyond all question, " for all have 
sinned. " The explanation of course of this general 
sinning is to be found in the universal inheritance of a 
bad heart to begin with. 



SIN AND SALVATION. 59 

What is sin? The accepted definition is that it is 
the voluntary transgression of a known Divine law. 
Suppose we take the ten commandments that in a 
federal way cover every kind of wickedness. Who 
has kept them inviolate? They forbid idolatry, pro- 
fanity, irreverence, Sabbath desecration, dishonor to 
parents, killing, stealing, adultery, coveting and false 
witnessing. If any person before me has not broken 
one of these laws I would be glad to have him stand 
up. Suppose we wait a minute to see if such a person 
is here, one who has never broken one of the Ten 
Commandments . 

I remember once hearing a preacher request any one 
in his audience w T ho had never stolen or taken any- 
thing that belonged to another to arise. One gentleman 
arose, when the preacher in a significant tone asked 
him if he had been a soldier in the late war, when 
suddenly the man sat down, while a general smile 
went around. 

An evangelist once asked all in his congregation 
who had never told a lie to arise. Two individuals 
stood up when the preacher requested the audience to 
kneel in prayer for the two biggest liars he had yet 
seen in his life. 

All smiling aside, where is the person who has not 
broken the letter itself of one of the Ten Command- 
ments. In a word all have sinned. 



60 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

But some will say I do not remember to have 
offended against the letter of the law. Very good, 
then take the spirit of the law and see who escapes. 
The Saviour long ago showed the spiritual side of the 
Commandments, and said that to be angry was murder, 
and that to look upon a woman improperly was 
adultery. Idolatry is the elevation of some creature 
into God's place, and coveting is theft unfledged. As 
we learn these facts from Scripture who is able to lift 
up his head and say I have not sinned. 

Nor is this all, for Christ says if we offend in one of 
these Commandments we have broken all. Truly if a 
man is willing to sin against God in one respect, he 
certainly will in another. Moreover the result is one 
of general woe. Suppose for instance, as one has said, 
you were suspended over an abyss by a chain of ten 
links, and one should be broken! Would you not go 
down just as certainly and swiftly as if three or five or 
all the links had been sundered? 

Somehow there is a conviction abroad that if a man 
can willingly violate one commandment of heaven, he 
will not require much urging to break another. In 
illustration I remember years ago to have read of a 
gentleman sitting in a hotel one Sabbath morning. 
Near him two other gentlemen were playing cards. 
He endured the painful spectacle a while and then 
suddenly called out to the hotel waiter to run quickly 



SIN AND SALVATION. 61 

to his room and bring him certain valuable articles he 
had left on his table. One of the card-players had the 
curiosity to ask him why he made such a request. 
The gentleman with great emphasis replied that when 
he saw persons around deliberately breaking one of 
God's laws in Sabbath desecration he did not know 
when it might please them to break another law, say 
for instance as to stealing, and so he thought it wisest 
to secure his property. 

Certainly men do not see themselves. They do not 
stop to think. Alas for it, that every one who will 
speak the truth is compelled to say that in the sorrow- 
ful past he has sinned. 

I do not mean to say that we cannot be washed and 
sanctified and by the indwelling grace and presence of 
Christ be kept from sinning. That, thank God, is true 
also. We only mean to say that in the past, all, save 
Jesus Christ, have at some time or in some way, sinned 
against God. 

3. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE IN ALL HAVING COME 
SHORT OF GOD'S GLORY. 

There can be no question of this, for the statement 
of the text is plain ; all have come short of the glory 
of God. 

There is a great difference in regard to the posses- 
sion of man's glory. Gladstone and Bismarck, Grant 



62 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

and Lee obtained it, while you and I have failed. If 
some men came to our city, the streets would be 
crowded with welcoming thousands, houses would be 
illuminated, rockets ascend and cannon thunder. But 
many of us might come and go and the community 
would be none the wiser. 

Some have succeeded in obtaining the glory of men, 
but when it comes to the glory of God all alike have 
failed. 

What is the glory of God? Many have been the 
answers. Some say it is eternal life. Others say 
heaven. Still others affirm that it is the perfect, flaw- 
less character, such as is drawn in the law and require- 
ments of the Bible. A fourth answer is that it is the 
honor w T hich God gives as a reward on earth and in 
heaven, based on individual merit and faithfulness 
alone. A fifth explanation is that it is the holiness of 
God Himself. 

Evidently it is difficult to tell what it means. The 
heart knows better here than the head. The soul feels 
at this place what the lip cannot express. But let the 
term glory of God stand for all we have mentioned, 
eternal life, heaven, Divine honor, flawlessness of life, 
God's resplendent holiness — concerning this galaxy of 
shining blessings we are all bound to say, that standing 
in our own strength and wdsdom, unhelped by Divine 
grace w T e all come short of the glory of God. Any 



SIN AND SALVATION. 63 

one of them is the glory of God, and who of us without 
Christ could have measured up to or obtained them. 

The expression "come short'' is powerful. I see 
an arrow shot at a target, but falling this side of the 
mark. It came short. I see a man endeavoring to 
leap a chasm. He misses the other bank and goes 
crashing down into the canyon. He came short. So 
has the human race in itself tried to reach heaven, 
attain character, and be clothed with the honor and 
rewards of God. It was a great leap they thought they 
made in their moral philosophies and life sacrifices, 
but they came short. History said so, God said so, 
and they felt it. 

But one person says I did not fail as much as 
another did; and one age and country did not sink as 
low as another. True, but all came short of God's 
glory, and so the catastrophe is wonderfully similar. 

Let us see how this is the case. Here is a call in 
military ranks for men who measure exactly six feet. 
Some applicants are only five feet six, others five feet 
eight, still others five, ten and eleven, and some are 
within half an inch of the standard. Yet all are 
rejected, and the man who is five feet eleven inches 
and a half finds himself in the rejected company of 
those who fell short six inches. They all came short. 

Suppose some of us had to jump a chasm six feet 
wide in order to save our lives. One leaps only four 



64 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

feet, another five, a third five feet six inches. All go 
crashing down the precipice together. It took a six 
foot leap to make the safe landing, and no one covered 
the distance. 

So we say to the entire human race, fall into line. 
Kings and peasants, princes and beggars, generals, 
statesmen, citizens, soldiers, preachers and laymen all 
get into line. Now then let every one, whether he be 
clothed in silk or rags, strike his breast with his hand 
and cry out, " We have all come short of the glory of 
God." 

Are we all in the dust ? Well, that is just where 
God wants us ; and where we must all get before Christ 
can save us. 

4. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE IN THERE BEING PARDON 
FOR US ALL. 

The text says there is no difference — " being justi- 
fied freely." Of course this does not mean that every 
one in the world does secure pardon, but can if he will. 
' It is so free that it is for all; just as much for the 
tramp on the road as for the king on his throne; just 
as truly for the poor man as for the millionaire. It is 
for the young .and the aged, the illiterate and the 
philosopher. 

It comes just as swiftly to one as the other, and just 
as freely and abundantly. It never stops to examine 



SIN AND SALVATION. 65 

the house in which you live whether it be a palace or a 
hovel. It asks no questions about the kind of clothes 
you wear whether silk or jeans; nor on what alley, 
street or avenue you reside, nor what may be the 
amount of your income. There is no difference, all 
are justified freely who will accept pardon. 

Is it not wonderful that men should doubt this 
blessed Bible truth. The trouble is they make God 
such an one as themselves. Affected by material cir- 
cumstances they would make the Almighty partial, 
and a respecter of persons. Listen to the Word, "God 
would have all men believe and come to the knowledge 
of the truth ; ' ' il God is not willing that any should 
perish, but that all should come to repentance." 

Now look at His gifts of air and sunshine. They 
are as much for one person as another, and are sym- 
bolic of the like freedom and fullness of His grace and 
salvation. 

I have noticed that the telephone wires in our cities 
go to large and fine looking houses ; none to hovels. 
But the lines of Divine grace and love are sent to any 
and all houses, and to the humblest as quickly as to 
the lordly residence. I have noticed that certain 
lovely tints and colors are peculiar to the mansions of 
the rich ; but God has a crimson stain that came from 
Calvary, which He places on the lowliest abode on the 
obscurest street ; and when He applies it to a palace it 



66 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

is the same scarlet color; He has nothing better in 
heaven. 

I started housekeeping in a very humble way. 
Rather than go in debt, our first center table was a 
dry goods box, and our two arm chairs we made our- 
selves out of barrels, cushioned with straw and covered 
with red calico. I live to-day in a three story house 
with pleasant and comfortable furniture made at the 
factories. But the Lord came as quickly to bless my 
soul when I lived in one room as He does now when I 
keep house in ten. 

I have seen altars filled with all kinds of people 
seeking forgiveness of sin. There were the blonde 
curls of childhood, the grizzled locks of middle life, 
and the gray hairs of old age. The faded coat or dress 
was by the side of rustling silk or shining broadcloth. 
The poor tradesman was next to the scholar or profes- 
sional man. I noticed at the same time that the silk 
and broadcloth secured more ghostly counsel and atten- 
tion from their fellow creatures than did the obscure 
and less favored in face, person and purse. But I also 
noticed that heaven was rigidly impartial. That God 
came as quickly in response to prayer and faith to the 
unrefined as to the accomplished, and to the poor as 
to the wealthy. In a word, there is no difference; we 
can all be justified no matter who we are, what we 
have done or left undone. The debt has been paid. 



SIN AND SALVATION. 67 

the door of heaven is open and the cry to the whole 
world is come, and take of the water of life freely. 

5. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE WITH US IN REGARD TO 
THE FULL BENEFITS OF THE GREAT REDEMPTION. 

The text says, "The redemption that is in Christ 
Jesus. " What is this redemption ? He who regards 
it as simply the pardon of sin has failed to take in the 
meaning of the word. He who makes it to be escape 
from hell and the gaining of heaven has not grasped 
the fullness of the salvation of Christ. 

The word redemption has in it the idea of a complete 
recovery. It means repurchasing or ransoming, and 
overflows with the thought of rescue. 

The illustrations of the meaning of the word are even 
more striking. A field that for years has been lying 
out untouched by hoe or plow, covered with weeds and 
brambles, and then afterwards fenced in and made to 
smile with a beautiful and profitable harvest is a field 
redeemed. 

A preacher was once approached by a boy carrying 
a cage filled with birds. He desired to sell them. The 
preacher's heart felt strangely moved in behalf of the 
little captives and bought them all. After paying the 
money down in the lad's hands, the new master of the 
birds opened the cage door and let them all fly out. 
With wet eyes but warm heart he saw them flutter 



68 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

away through the air, and he said as they flew off into 
the sky they were all chirping and singing and they 
seemed to say, u Redeemed — Redeemed." 

A still more remarkable illustration of the word has 
been seen in connection with certain occurrences in 
the days of Slavery. Now and then a Slave owner be- 
ing pressed by debt or some kind of obligation, would 
be under the necessity of parting with one or more of 
his servants. In certain towns and cities there was 
what was called a Slave-block, and the man or woman 
to be sold was placed upon it and auctioneered off to 
the highest bidder. It was a scene never to be forgot- 
ten when the husband and father thus stood, and heard 
the bids made upon him. The circle of rough-looking 
Slave buyers about the Block, felt the muscles of the 
Slave, asked his age and reguarded him as merely a 
piece of goods or chattels. The wife and children of 
the man thus being sold, stood or crouched a few yards 
away and witnessed the sale with voiceless lips, but 
streaming eyes. In a few minutes he is to be "knocked 
down" to the highest bidder, and will be carried away 
to end his days on some far distant plantation of cot- 
ton or cane in Mississippi or Louisiana. They will 
never meet again on earth. It all comes to him as 
stealing a hurried glance at his loved ones, he hears 
the words of the auctioneer ; how pitiless they sounded ; 
u One thousand dollars is offered" — " Twelve hun- 



SIN AND SALVATION. 69 

dred dollars.'' "How much more am I offered" 
"Are all bids in." "Twelve hundred dollars." — 
" Going — going — gone !" Yes, truly, it is — gone. 
And the man now amid the loud wails of his family 
goes off with his new master, to return no more. 

But suppose that just as some coarse, dark-featured 
man has bidden the twelve hundred dollars, and as the 
trembling Slave takes in the cruel visage before him 
and a horror of despair begins to fall upon him, that a 
benevolent-faced gentleman in the crowd, not only 
wealthy but a benefactor of his race, trying to do good 
at every opportunity, suddenly bids twelve hundred 
and fifty, and still higher as his competitor raises the 
amount. Suppose this kindly heart, who has done 
the like thing often before, should bid beyond the reach 
of every other man, and for the sum of eighteen hun- 
dred dollars has the Slave turned over to him. It is 
not to retain him as a slave, however, but to set him 
at liberty from that hour. He tells with shining face, 
the joy-intoxicated man "you are free. I have re- 
deemed you." Suppose in addition to this act, the 
wealthy gentleman purchases the family of the man 
and then sets them all free together; now then you 
have some idea of the deep, sweet meaning of the 
word Redemption. 

So were we on the Slave-block of sin. The world 
and the devil were bidding for our souls. You know 



70 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

well what bondage to them means ; what separations 
tears, labors and death. Right in the midst of this 
bidding came one wearing a crown of thorns and saying, 
iC I will bid for him." To the question what will you 
give, He answered : " I will give the gold of my blood, 
and the silver of my tears. I give myself for him." 
And thank God, we were struck down to Christ. There 
was no one who could outbid Jesus. There was no 
price in all the universe equal to what He paid down 
at Calvary. And so we became the Lord's property, 
and in becoming His were set free ; Free from sin , the 
world and the devil; in a word Redeemed. 

Paul says in Titus 2:14: " He gave Himself for us 
that he might redeem us from all iniquity." Here 
now we have it. To be redeemed from all iniquity is 
to be made holy. Christ's salvation was never in- 
tended to stop with pardon, but to sweep on farther, 
and to go down deeper, giving us a pure heart and set- 
tling us in a holy life. 

The Bible shows us what " the redemption in Christ 
Jesus" is by a reference to certain characters in its 
pages. I mention only one, and that one Peter. 

As a rough fisherman without God, he must have 
been a most unattractive individual. When he was 
converted and in his impulsive way following Christ 
there was a marvellous change. Still, however, he 
was fearful and hot-headed. But after the baptism of 



SIN AND SALVATION. 71 

the Holy Ghost, with his heart purified and soul and 
tongue on fire boldly preaching, patiently suffering 
and humbly yet triumphantly dying for the Saviour, 
it is like looking on another man, and in itself tells 
louder than words what is " the redemption which is 
in Christ Jesus." 

It was a redemption from haste of speech, religious 
narrowness, dread of man and fear of death. It w T as 
the power to face a frowning world, with a joy un- 
speakable and full of glory, and to live daily as he 
w T rote in one of his epistles, " Seeing then that all 
these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons 
ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. " 

Look at the Demoniac filled w^ith ten thousand devils 
tearing and cutting himself and wandering with fearful 
cries up and down the banks of Lake Galilee in order 
to see what the bondage of the devil is. Then to know 7 
Christ's redemption, see the same man with the un- 
clean spirits all gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, 
clothed and in his right mind, and afterwards sent 
back to his home and community as an evangelist to 
tell what great things the Lord had done for him. 

Life is full of illustrations and commentaries upon 
the word Redemption. A few months ago I saw a 
man who under the demon of intemperance had been 
sent twenty-seven times to Inebriate Asylums. All 
had failed. Then he came to Jesus, and Christ with 



72 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

His blessed releasing power, saved and sanctified him, 
and the man is to-day one of the most useful Christian 
workers in the land. 

I have seen backsliders who had drifted far from 
God, and had been in coldness, darkness and hardness 
for years , suddenly arrested, broken, melted, reclaimed, 
refilled and refired, and from that time became the 
gentlest, humblest, purest and most zealous among the 
servants of God. This also is the redemption of 
Jesus. 

Some of you know what this redemption has done 
for you. Justification secured your pardon; regenera- 
tion made you a new creature in Christ Jesus, but 
there was something left in your heart that gave you 
much trouble. There was a dark nature or principle 
within that brought you days of defeat and gloom. 
You had love, but it was not perfect. You had peace, 
but it did not abide. At last you were told that Christ 
had a work of grace that would meet every spiritual 
need, and richly satisfy every longing of the soul. You 
sought the blessing for hours or days. And it came. 
O, how thankful you are that it came. Since that mo- 
ment you know what heart repose and life victory 
mean. You feel every instant that the blood clean- 
seth, and a tender quiet joy bubbles like a pure spring 
up in the heart. You feel kept by the power of God. 
In a word ; you are justified freely, sanctified wholly 



SIN AND SAIyVATION. 73 

and preserved blameless. This is a part of what is 
meant by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. 

Why do not the people come to Him and find out 
what He is, and has, and can do for them. The Bible 
says there is " riches of grace " in Christ; yet many 
of His people would never impress you that they were 
rich, but rather poverty-stricken and bankrupt. Why 
should there be sadness and defeat in our hearts and 
lives when He whom we serve has all mercy, all love 
and all power ? 

There is no end to the redemption that is in Him; 
and this redemption is for any and all. There is no 
difference. All are welcome. The humblest and 
weakest person here can drink as deep of the fountain 
of salvation as did Paul. You can live as near the 
Lord as did John. You can be the best of earth and 
rise as high in heaven as the loftiest archangel ! Who 
will accept what God has for them? Who will help him- 
self? May God grant that the last one of you will 
arise and enter upon the privileges and boundless pos- 
sibilities of grace and blessedness provided by the Sa- 
viour for every child ot man. 



IV. 



SONSHIP. 



"Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet 
appear what we shall be ; but we know that when He shall 
appear, we shall be like Him ; for we shall see Him as He is. 
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, 
even as He is pure." — 1 John, 3: 2, 3. 

THERE are three great truths taught by this 
passage of Scripture. The first is evident at 
a mere glance; the second is just as truly 
taught but not as quickly seen; while the third is 
buried still more deeply, and yet is the most important 
of the three. To the question of surprise why this 
should be so, the reply is that the God of Grace and 
Nature is the same God, and He who hides certain ores 
under the surface of the earth, and buries gold, silver 
and gems farther down, acts consistently in the 
spiritual kingdom, when He secretes precious truths 
under the meaning of the word, and still more sacred 
mysteries still deeper. 

I call attention to the three great lessons of the text : 
and first — 

1. THE FACT OF SONSHIP. 

This prominent thought of the text is suggestive 
of other truths which illumine and glorify the first 

74 



SCLNSHIP. 75 

great fact. I present them as they arise in my 
mind. 

First : If we are Sons of God then there must have 
been a spiritual birth. 

There is no way of obtaining entrance into the king- 
dom of God except by birth. You cannot grow into 
it, nor reform into it, nor improve into it, but you must 
be born into it. Just as there is but one way of getting 
into this material world of ours, viz. by birth, so there 
is but one way of finding entrance into the kingdom of 
grace. We must be born into it. A physical birth for 
the physical world, a spiritual birth for the spiritual 
world. The Saviour's words are explicit here, "Ye 
must be born again. " "Except ye be born of the 
Spirit, ye cannot see the kingdom of God." Just as 
distinctly John in his gospel affirms that this birth is 
"not of blood," £. <?., it is not an inheritance. Our 
parents are powerless to transmit grace to us. "Nor 
of the will of the flesh;" surely no one believes 
that it is in man's power to regenerate himself. "Nor 
of the will of man ;" not only can no individual bring 
this heavenly birth about by any mental or physical 
energy of his own, but neither can any collection of 
individuals. No church although in posession of the 
Ark and Oracles of God has power to make the moral 
Ethiop white. Every one of the denominations might 
assemble together and w r ith all the pomp and show 



76 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

beheld in some ecclesiasticisms bid the weeping sinner 
to be born again and there would be no result save one 
of disappointment to him and mortification to them- 
selves. It takes the power of God to effect this mar- 
vellous work. 

The Almanac date of our conversion is pleasant to 
recall and quote; but some through various reasons 
are not able to state the exact hour. Still the fact of 
the spiritual birth is not less true and important. 

I have heard some speak lightly of this wonderful 
time and occurrence ; and such comparative disparage- 
ment I could never understand. To me the day in 
which I was born of God has ever and will ever be a 
most precious and sacred date. The day and place of 
our natural birth have a curious power to stir our sensi- 
bilities, but it ought not to move us as much as the 
memory of the hour when born of the spirit we wept, 
laughed or shouted and our heart and lip cried out for 
the first time, "Abba Father, " and "My Lord and my 
God." 

Second: If Sons of God there should be a family 
resemblance. 

If a man should come to you saying that he was the 
son of an old-time friend and acquaintance, you would 
at once look for certain corroboratory signs, and there 
would always be such if he was the child of that 
friend. There would be features in the face, accents of 



SONSHIP. 77 

the voice, carriage of the body, mannerisms, not to say- 
peculiarities, that would bring at once the friend of 
other years to mind. I never saw a child yet but 
would bear one or more of these signs. With the 
brow and eye of the mother there would be a motion 
of the hand, a toss of the head, an utterance of the lip 
that would declare the father beyond a doubt. 

So it is impossible to become God's child without 
the fact being evident The resemblance must and will 
be there. The new light in the eye, the purity of 
speech, gentleness of manner, love in the act, and 
spirituality of life all declare the family above to which 
the man belongs. 

I remember once to have known two ministers of the 
gospel who lived in the same town, but belonged to 
different denominations. One was a blustering kind 
of man, loved publicity, sought prominent seats on the 
platform and in the synagogue, and when coming 
down the street fairly monopolized the pavement. 
Somehow there was nothing to remind one of Jesus 
and there were numbers of people who doubted that he 
was a child of God. The other preacher was one of 
the humblest and gentlest of men. On the street he 
gave way to everybody without appearing cringing. 
He did not shrink from duty, but cared not for promi- 
nence for its mere sake. His words were always kind 
and his life heavenly. To see him anywhere was to 



78 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

think of Christ, and all who knew him felt he was a 
member of the Divine family. 

Third : If Sons of God there should be love for the 
rest of the family. 

The spectacle of a divided household is always 
painful, and regarded as unnatural. Some of us have 
beheld such sights and were made to deplore the 
trouble itself and the unhappy consequences which 
flowed therefrom. I have seen two brothers refusing 
to speak for years. I have seen two sisters, the only 
surviving children of the family enter into a life-long 
separation and hatred of each other. But no matter 
how many such instances we behold we never get 
accustomed to them, but continue to deplore and con- 
demn. The very unnaturalness of the thing forever 
prevents it from being looked upon with approval. In 
the quarrels of little children old nurses have been 
heard to say to them. "You will get along better 
when oceans roll between you." Just as vividly the 
speech of a Confederate Colonel rings in my ears 
to-day, when in trying to reconcile two enstranged 
brothers, he said, " Nothing my brother could do 
would ever make me refuse to speak to him." 

Here then is the standard adopted by the world for 
the family circles of earth. It is one of mutual love. 
Shall there be a lower standard for the heavenly family? 
In Antioch the fact of the love of Christians for one 



SONSHIP. 79 

another proved who they were; "See how these Chris- 
tians love one another," they used to say. 

This love should prove the Divine relationship 
to-day, and does so. For we may prate as we will 
about past experiences and conscious acceptance with 
God, but if we have feelings of bitterness and estrange- 
ment to God's children we are ourselves in the gall and 
bondage of sin. If any man says he loves God and 
hateth his brother he is a liar, says John. 

There has been nothing that has blocked the pro- 
gress of Christianity more than the strifes, dissensions, 
jealousies and warrings of the different denominations 
and churches. Oftentimes the preacher and evange- 
list will labor unavailingly for a revival for days and 
weeks, and at last find out to their surprise that there 
has been division and enmity among God's people. 
Of course God would not come down upon such a 
divided congregation. In one of my revival services 
in a Southern city; I was made to marvel at the 
absence of the Spirit in the congregation. On the 
eighth day I asked if there could possibly be any 
enstrangements among them. A steward replied that 
the church at that point was like a loving family. Six 
hours later not. less than three grave church quarrels 
were brought to view and it was developed that this 
same steward's family was not on speaking or visiting 
terms with five other families in the congregation* 



80 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

One elderly lady remarked that while she felt no 
enmity to other church members, yet there were 
several about whom she must candidly confess that 
she preferred to have them walk on one side of the 
street while she stayed on the other. Here was a reve- 
lation indeed. I could but think what if Gabriel in 
heaven would say that while he felt no particular ill- 
will toward the Archangel Michael, yet he preferred 
him to stay on one side of the Throne while he 
remained on the other. 

Let no man deceive you, brethren, for "he that saith 
he is in the light and hateth his brother is in dark- 
ness," and "if a man say I love God and hateth his 
brother, he is a liar;" while Jesus says, u by this shall 
all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love 
to one another." 

Fourth : If Sons of God there should be devotion to 
our Father's interest. 

Here the son is at once recognized. Strangers and 
outsiders are not concerned about the state of a man's 
property, and can see wrong done to it, and lose no 
sleep. But the son is not and cannot be so indifferent 
even though he has already received his own inheri- 
tance. Suppose for instance a man's store should be 
rifled by a rabble. Many would regret the occurrence, 
but would say it is none of my business and pass by. 
But suddenly a gentleman appears on the scene who 



SONSHIP. 81 

gives an astonished look, utters an indignant outcry, 
hurls himself upon the marauders and pilferers, and 
sweeps the store of their presence. That man is the 
son of the owner of the store. 

God has a cause on earth. His interests in many 
respects and in many places are sadly neglected. 
Numbers of people shake the head and say what a 
pity certain things are not done in the church. What 
a pity that salaries are not paid, the church painted, 
and a parsonage built. What a pity that certain 
Missions and Houses of Refuge could not be kept up. 
And so they relieve themselves in sighing, and lose no 
sleep or money over the needs of Zion. These people 
are not God's children. If they were, they would act 
differently. Their hearts would melt, and eyes fill a' 
the sight of the languishing work of the Lord. Their 
hearts would burn to help, their feet would fly, and 
their money be gladly given to meet the need and 
remove the distress. 

Two scenes widely different in character, but spring- 
ing from the same spirit often come up to me when I 
think on this point of devotion to God. One was 
connected with a church in a small Southern town. 
The people were backslidden, and the fact could be 
seen in the forlorn appearance of their place of worship. 
Broken window panes, missing shutters and crazy 
door-steps told the story from the outside. Inside the 



82 BEVIVAL SERMONS. 

building, the ragged aisle carpet and discolored pews 
and walls were mutely eloquent. Just back of the pulpit 
hung a piece of damask fifteen feet long and eight 
feet wide that was once handsome and ornamental, but 
it had faded, become dusty, and was now fallen away 
from some of its fastenings. There moved to this 
town a young married woman who, in her first attend- 
ance at church took in the situation. There were other 
ladies who seemed not to care for the spectacle I have 
described, but her eyes filled with tears. Next day in 
passing the church I heard the sound of a tack 
hammer, and quietly entering the door saw the young 
woman standing on a step-ladder at work on the 
damask curtain, arranging its wide borders and causing 
it to fall once more in graceful folds. She was alone, 
and her hands had been busy all over the house to its 
decided improvement. It was the form of one of God's 
daughters that I saw in the subdued light of the closed 
building. She was in her Father's House. She did 
not care to be seen or known, but loved her Father 
and was glad to minister to Him and to His Sanctuary. 
I looked at the scene with melted heart and misty eyes 
for a while and went away, but the picture has often 
returned to memor}^. The young woman is now in 
her grave, but He who said that a cup of cold w T ater 
given for him would not lose its reward, has long ago 
blessed her for her devotion to her Father's house. 



SONSHIP. 83 

The second scene took place in New Orleans in a 
church that had been heavily burdened with debt for 
years. Most of the members seemed to be contented 
to bear the reproach heaped upon them for this finan- 
cial obligation. There was one man among them who 
continually grieved over it, and finally requested a 
dozen of the abler members to meet him in the pastor's 
study. There he got them upon their knees and talked 
to God about what He was to them, and what He had 
done for them. Tears soon began to flow; when 
suddenly rising this devoted son of the Father said 
that he would give a thousand dollars to lift the debt, 
when lo ! in ten minutes the whole amount had been 
met. All of this was brought about by one who was 
such a true child of God as to be devoted to His 
interests. 

Fifth: If sons of God we are being educated. 

The general rule and practice seems to be to send 
our children off to school. In distant cities and 
colleges they lay the foundation and acquire the 
knowledge that is to fit them for the duties and con- 
flicts of life. 

So God has put us to College. We are far from the 
Father's house, and from the final home of the soul, 
on the planet Earth going through the University of 
Life. We are being educated and trained for the 
heavenly state, and fitted for companionships , angelic 



84 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

and divine. A wonderful Faculty is over us whose 
names are Sorrow, Poverty, Sickness, Disappointment, 
Prosperity, Adversity — under whose teaching we are 
made to forget much and learn much. Over them all 
is the great Teacher Himself, who employs them to 
impress the truths He would have us learn. What 
strange text books are placed in our hands, and how w T e 
make their pages wet with our tears before we master 
the volume! A new Arithmetic is studied in which 
we find that to lose one's life for God is to gain it. 
A new Logic in which love and kindness are the 
major and minor premises, and happiness the conclu- 
sion. A new Astronomy in which the Star of Bethle- 
hem wheels into view and Heaven with all its glories 
becomes visible. 

What lessons we learn ; and how hollow some things 
are found to be that we once thought solid. How 
every pleasure out of Christ soon cloys upon the 
spiritual palate, and comes with ever diminishing 
power to the soul. How the cackling mirth of thought- 
less youth gradually disappears, and a sweet serious- 
ness of spirit and manner takes its place. How sin is 
hated and shunned, and purity and piety sought after 
and prized instead. 

Sixth: If Sons of God we are in communication 
with those at Home. 



SONSHIP. 85 

The great consolation when absent from our earthly 
home is the reception of letters. In the time of my 
college life how I loved the days that brought a letter 
from home. Connection was thus kept up and the 
distance was in some way bridged. So should we be 
in communion with our Father in heaven if we are 
indeed His children. I wonder how many of you 
receive communications from Him, and when you 
heard last. When a week elapsed without my hearing 
from home when I was at school I grew alarmed; and 
so should the Christian who has days and weeks to 
pass without spiritual communion and Divine messages 
to the soul. There is an Experience where there is a 
delivery a number of times through the day, and 
heavenly telegrams continually flash their way into the 
soul. Some of us can say this moment I hear His 
voice, and there have been fifty dispatches received 
since the hour of worship began. 

Seventh: If Sons of God then we are sustained by 
those at home. 

I remember I gave myself no worry about my college 
expenses. They were considerable it is true, but 
certain loved ones had promised all necessary funds 
for support should come, and they did. 

If we are God's children He will take care of us. 
The remittance of relief will arrive, the supply will 
come, for He has promised it. Some of us could give 



86 REVIVAL SERMONS, 

thrilling incidents of empty flour barrels, and depleted 

pocket books, and the help that came at the hour of 

greatest need from unexpected quarters. It is our 

duty to study and work on in this University of Life, 

and God will provide for and sustain us. When I 

entered the ministry a preacher slipped a folded piece 

of letter paper in my hand, saying, " I have no money 

to give you, but here is something far better than I can 

do; read it when you get to yourself." An hour later 

on the guards of the steamboat I read in the fading 

light of the sunset the words, " Trust in the Lord and 

do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily 

thou shalt be fed." It was God's promissory note. I 

have never parted with it. It has been good these 

twenty years, and heaven has honored it every time I 

presented it. 

" In some way or other 
The Lord will provide. 
It may not be my way, 
It may not be thy way, 
And yet in His own way, 
The Lord will provide." 

Eighth : If Sons of God we are going home one of 
these days. 

Just as we send for our children at the end of the 
school or college session, and here they come trooping 
home, so will our Father send for us and so will we 
return. 



SONSHIP. 87 

It is a blessed thought that at any hour the messenger 

and message may reach us to a come home." Some 
of us as little children have been playing in the yard 
under the trees until the shadows of evening began to 
fall, when a servant drew near and said, " Your father 
says come home." At once we laid down our play- 
things of flowers, bits of stick and broken glass, and 
followed the servant into the house. We had such 
pleasant homes we w r ere not heart-broken to do this. 

God's messenger sooner or later will find us at our 
work or play. His name is Death. As his touch falls 
upon us and we look upon his dark form we will hear 
the message, " Your Father says come home." 

Some of us will not be sorry to go. How gladly we 
w 7 ill lay down the work tools or playthings of this 
world and follow the messenger upward toward the 
heavenly mansion that is all ashine and w T aiting for us. 

It is a sweet thought to feel as the world sweeps on 
that it is carrying us to the home of the soul, that it is 
speeding through the air in swift flight for the Ever- 
lasting City. There are signs along the years that 
declare unmistakeably the approaching end of the 
journey. We mark them with interest as one would 
notice the familiar landmarks in an earthly trip. 
I heard a gentleman once describe his return home 
after an absence of years ; that as he drew nearer and 
nearer, the well-known curve of the river, the line of 



88 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

hills, the forest, the orchard, the turn in the road, the 
rustic stile, the clump of trees near the house, and 
other familiar objects, all uprose one after another to 
the view, filling him with an increasing breathless 
interest, until finally as the old home itself stood out 
on the tree-studded and sloping lawn before him, a 
torrent of unrestrainable tears gushed down his face. 

There are numerous signs of the approaching end of 
life's journey, in grey hair, failing sight and hearing, 
enfeebled powers, weariness of body and that loneliness 
which comes from having lost many friends and loved 
ones by the way. They all declare the fact that you 
are nearly home. 

Ninth : If Sons of God there will be a welcome for 
us. 

It is sweet to feel there will be some at the Gate 
of Heaven awaiting us. I have seen persons standing 
at the door, or in the front of the house to welcome a 
long absent traveler. It was an experience never to 
be forgotten to look up and see that loving group 
at the door. Father, mother, brother, sister, wife and 
children were all there. The joy of that moment paid 
for all the pain and suffering of the long absence of 
months or years. 

That there will be a company awaiting us at the door 
of heaven I doubt not. All of you well know who will 
be there to greet you. The mother whose death left 



SONSHIP. 89 

you to stand alone in the world ; the little boy in whose 
grave the sun seemed to go down; both will be there 
to welcome you; their arms will twine about you and 
the sound of their well remembered voices will take 
away the pain of many lonely years. 

The president of a church college was dying in 
Kentucky. He had been for long years a widower, 
Just as he was taking his last breath he looked up and 
with a flash of joy in his eyes he cried out, " My wife," 
and fell back dead. The scene made a deep impres- 
sion upon the Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi, 
and he asked Bishop Wight man what he thought of it. 
The Bishop replied, '"God sent His angels to escort 
his soul to heaven, and allowed the wife of the dying 
man to come along with them. As his soul was leav- 
ing the body he looked up and saw her; that is all 
about it." 

On my return from the Holy Land after an absence 
of four months, I witnessed a scene at the landing of 
the ship that I never will be able to forget. The whole 
deck was filled with passengers whose eyes were fixed 
on the pier where we were to land, and which was 
thronged with a great concourse of people who had 
come down expecting friends and relatives from across 
the sea. There was not a sound as the two throngs 
looked at each other, and with eager eyes tried to 
separate loved ones from the crowd, While fifty yards 



90 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

still intervened, I heard an elderly man give a choking 
sob and say, "Yonder is my daughter. " A lady stood 
her little boy on an elevated place and pointing with 
her hand, while her face glowed and tears dripped, 
said, ' ' There is your father, ' ' Others equally oblivious 
and careless of being heard would cry out in the same 
way, wave the hand or handkerchief, and utter with 
husky voice the name of some beloved one. Others 
sank back upon seats after the mutual recognition, 
covering their faces with their hands; still others 
laughed or wept hysterically, and some few men 
hallooed across the distance to each other. I heard 
one cry out from the ship, " I thought we would never 
see you nor the land again." "Yes," came back a 
glad shout, "we knew of the storm and' prayed God 
to bring you through." 

Finally the steamer touched the wharf, the gang way 
was run out and there followed a scene made up of 
handshakes, embraces, smiles, tears, and joyous and 
tender salutations that could not be described. There 
was no one expecting me, so all I had to do was to 
view the pathetic scene. My own cheeks were wet 
and heart fairly ached with the emotions excited with- 
in me by the occurrences of the hour. I thought as 1 
leaned against the bulwarks of the vessel, that so shall 
be the meeting and greetings of heaven. Memorable 



SONSHIP. 91 

will be the hour in eternity when the Old Ship of Zion 
draws near with us to rejoin the bands of relatives and 
friends who have preceded us. They, I doubt not, 
w T ill be looking out for us, and you know we will be 
looking for them. What a meeting it will be ! what 
rapturous shouts and praises ! what embraces of life- 
long parted friends and loved ones. 

" I think I should mourn o'er my sorrowful fate, 
If sorrow in heaven could be, 
If no one should be at the beautiful gate 
There waiting and watching for me." 

Thank God all will have some one looking out for 
us. And they who have lingered long on the shore of 
life and can say in view of many burials, " My com- 
pany has gone before" — will have a goodly throng 
to greet them as they arrive. 

How we love to think of those that have gone ahead ; 
the good and true who fell early in life, and the old 
friends of your father and mother whom you met and 
was taught to venerate around the family hearthstone. 
And there is the sister who passed away in girlhood, 
and the brother who went down in battle. Then the 
father fell asleep, and after a while the mother went 
after him. Then the young wife faded away, and the 
children went up one by one, and left you lonely in 
(he midst of empty rooms and vacant chairs, 



92 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Thank God they will all be there to meet you. 

" While on Pisgah's top I'm standing 
Looking toward the vernal shore, 
There I seem to see them banding, 
Just beside the Golden Landing, 
Waiting to receive me o'er, 
Precious ones who've gone before." 

Tenth If Sons of God there will be a family 
gathering. 

I never saw a father yet but wanted all his children 
home at stated times. They may have married and 
been scattered everywhere, but the desire of the father 
is known, the letters of reminder are sent, and here 
on Thanksgiving Day or in the Christmas Holidays 
they all come. What a bustle is in the house, what 
twinkling lights from the windows, what roaring fires 
up the chimney, what running about of the servants. 
The lawyer son is there from a distant city. The 
physician son has fled from his patients in still another 
city and come. A third son is present with a week's 
furlough from the army, and a still younger son has 
run down from college. Then there are daughters 
married and unmarried, and prattling grandchildren. 
What a bright, loving, joyous scene it is! And when 
all are sitting at the long dining table, and the silvery 
locked father at the head and the bespectacled, smiling 
mother at the foot glance down the double line of faces, 
elderly and youthful, grave and gay, all of them their 



S0NSHIP. V6 

own, and all under the old family roof tree once more; 
it is a picture so full of gladness, thankfulness, love 
and content, that no pencil, pen, or artist brush could 
ever do it justice. 

There is to be a great family gathering one of these 
days in the skies. Christ repeatedly spoke of it. In 
one place it is called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. 
God's children will come up from every country and 
«*ige and sit down together. They will drink the wine 
of the kingdom new at that time. What an assemblage 
it will be of the good, true and pure. Patriarchs, 
prophets, apostles, martyrs, kings, poets, priests, 
preachers, singers, in a w T ord all of God's servants and 
witnesses who have lived, achieved, suffered and died 
for Him will be there. The hymn says : 

" Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet 
Their Saviour and brethren transported to greet; 
Where the anthems of rapture unceasingly roil, 
And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul." 

No one is able to describe this scene. We have be- 
held the presence of one good and great man enliven a 
whole table or company ; but think of a feast w r here 
all the spiritually great and good of this world are 
present. Where not only Abraham, David, Elijah 
and Paul are seen, but Knox and Calvin, Wesley and 
Whitefield, Pay son and Summerfield, Cookman and 
Marvin. 



P4 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Some of us doubtless would do nothing but look at 
these moral giants of the past, but for one face which 
shines over all, and that is the chief and crowning 
glory of the hour. No one need ask whose it is ; all 
know the One who wore the crown of thorns for us, 
and who died to bring us to heaven. 

God grant we all may be there. There is nothing 
like it on earth, and nothing can surpass it in eternity. 
The poor take rank, the humble are exalted, the last 
are first, the " Dying Thief" commands a great audi- 
ence, and Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Bethany who 
broke the alabaster box, have as many eyes upon 
them as one of the prophets of old or the sweet Singer 
of Israel himself. All these are sons and daughters of 
God, all feel welcome, all are at home, and all have 
qome to stay. 

The second leading thought of the text is : 

2. THE FACT OF SOMETHING GREATER AWAITING US 
IN HEAVEN. 

Read the text, "It doth not yet appear what we shall 
be." Sons now, but a glory and exaltation is to come 
that at the present has not been revealed. Wonderful 
as is the dignity and blessedness of being Sons of God, 
yet says the Book it doth not yet appear what we shall 
be. Is not this enough to stagger the mind, and fill 
the heart with adoring love and wonder? 



SONSHIP. 95 

Daniel referring to our heavenly state says we shall 
l * shine as the sun." Paul says our bodies will be 
" glorious," and the writer of Revelation, on beholding 
one thus glorified, fell at his feet to worship him, but 
the shining one said, " See thou do it not for I am one 
of thy fellow servants." A fellow servant, and yet he 
looked divine ! The nearest description that John 
gives of this celestial state and appearance is in the 
text I am speaking from — " We shall be like Him." 

By regeneration and sanctification we are made like 
Him in nature and character on earth; but the like- 
ness here spoken of is something external and corporeal 
as well. This is certainly very wonderful, for we know 
that the vision Paul had of Him in glory, and the 
glorious appearance granted to John on Patmos could 
not be described by the first, and caused the second to 
fall prostrate. So when the text says, "We shall be 
like Him," the soul is filled with amazement and 
thrilling anticipations of its own coming glory. 

" We shall see Him as He is." Here is the verita- 
ble Christ, only transfigured with the glory He had 
with the Father before the world was. And we shall 
be like Him! The redeemed race will look like Gods. 
Truly the soul should be lost here in wonder, love and 
praise. 

The third thought of the text is ; 



96 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

3. THE EFFECT THAT THIS COMING PROMOTION AND 
GLORY SHOULD HAVE ON GOD'S CHILD. 

The text is clear about it, " And every one that hath 
this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is 
pure. 

" Every one," that is every one who is a son of God; 
St. John was writing about God's children. 

"This hope." What hope is he talking about? 
The hope of being like Christ in heaven, where we shall 
see Him as He is, and shall be like Him. The fact of 
this great unknown exaltation and dignity of the skies 
awaiting the child of God should stir in him a mighty 
aspiration or hope for it. It would be surprising if it 
did not; and yet there are some who are not thus 
moved. Listen to His words — 

"Every one that hath this hope in him." The 
Apostle does not say that every Christian or child of 
God has this hope, but "Every one that hath this 
hope in him." Some have it not. They are satisfied 
with a plodding religion, and the prospect of a bare 
entrance into heaven. Many have told me that I will 
be satisfied just to get inside the gate. No burning 
desire here to rise up high in the favor of God and 
courts of glory. It is simply the safety of heaven they 
want and not the likeness to the Son of God as He is 
to be seen. 



SONSHIP. 97 

There are others, however, who want to stand high 

in spiritual things; who desire not only to be like 
Christ as He was on earth, but like Him as He is to 
be revealed in heaven. This, of course, will produce 
a certain moral effect on the man. He is not content 
with simply being justified, and remaining a son of 
God; "He purifieth himself." So then impurity is 
left in the child of God. Here is another death blow 
to Zinzendorfianism. 

But an objector says the man here purifieth himself, 
and hence this is no Divine work. My reply is that 
this does not alter the fact of impurity remaining in the 
regenerated man. And again, the man's purifying 
himself antedates and is always connected with God's 
cleansing of the soul. God never does His part until 
the man does his. A man craving the Divine inward 
purification, must prove it by a human outward puri- 
fication. Paul says to regenerated Corinthians, 
"Cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of the flesh 
and spirit," and this was to be done in order that they 
might " perfect holiness in the fear of God." In the 
Bible we are exhorted to " sanctify ourselves " ; but in 
the same Book we are told that "the God of peace will 
sanctify us wholly." There is a human and a Divine 
sanctification. This is God's plan, and He never de- 
viates from it. So when a son of God has "this hope" 
of a great coming glory and dignity in heaven, he puri- 



98 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

fies himself. And when he does that God comes down 
upon him in sanctifying fire. 

The character and measure of this purity is men- 
tioned in the text. 

" As He is pure." 

This one expression shows what has happened. 
This is no human work. No man can work himself 
into a spiritual cleanness even with, and like to that of 
Christ. The words, " As He is pure," show r con- 
clusively that at the end of man's personal cleansing, 
the Saviour stepped in and purified him with the Bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost and of fire. 

O that God's people everywhere would begin to pant 
and cry out for this Divine cleansing. to be pure 
even as He is pure. How can we be content to live 
without such a blessing when we are told that it is 
for us. 

The disciples as children of God were so anxious for 
this purifying that they left homes, family, occupation 
and every thing for ten days, while shut up in an upper 
room, they waited for the descending fire. It finally 
came, and afterwards Peter writing about it said their 
hearts were " purified by faith. 

Caughey wanted it so badly that day after day saw 
him praying on his face in lonely fields beyond Balti- 
more. It came, and as it swept with cleansing power 



SONSHIP. 99 

through his already regenerated soul, he leaped to his 
feet and told God he could now go to England with the 
gospel message. He did, and thousands found Christ 
as a consequence. 

John S. Inskip so panted after it that his every 
breath became a prayer. For hours he would be on 
his face begging for the blessing. One Sunday morn- 
ing while standing in his pulpit, and while uttering 
the words, " Lord, I am wholly and forever thine," 
the fire fell, his heart was purified and he at once en- 
tered upon a work and ministry apostolic in its spirit 
and world-wide in its result. 

Cornelius wanted it so much that he sent his servant 
thirty or forty miles after Peter to tell him about it. 
A preacher friend of mine traveled seven hundred miles 
to obtain instructions how to find this pearl of great 
price. When I heard of it, I was the first of a large 
congregation to bow at the altar and sought the blessing 
unweariedly, pertinaciously and inconsolably until it 
came. 

I thank God it is for every child of God ; and when 
we desire it above all other things it will come. I mar- 
vel how any Christian can hear of such a grace and 
not crave its possession. 

that scores who hear me would rush to the altar 
now, and being of one mind, of one accord and in one 



100 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

place, begin to besiege heaven for the Baptism of the 
Holy Ghost which purifies the heart and empowers 
for service. God grant that you will never cease your 
importunities and cries until heaven answers, and the 
same blessing that filled the disciples may fill you, set 
you on fire, and send you flying everywhere with the 
tidings, not only of pardon, but of purity, and not 
only of free, but of full salvation. 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 

"And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, 
the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem ; and Joseph and 
his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have 
been in the company, went a day's journey ; and they sought 
him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they 
found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking 
him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found 
him in the temple." — Luke 2 :43-46. 

THERE are many wonderful truths and precious 
lessons of grace under the surface meaning 
of the Word of God. I do not say with some 
that there is a natural, spiritual and celestial meaning 
to every verse; but I do say there are many blessed 
facts in the Word of God that will never be seen by the 
hasty reader. It pays to tarry over Bible paragraphs. 
Blessed is the man that reads mediatively and prayer- 
fully. The text is an illustration of these hidden les- 
sons of grace. I present you what I have drawn from 
it. And first, 

1. THE REMARKABLE TARRYINGS OF THE LORD. 

The text says, "the child Jesus tarried behind." 
There are many mysterious things about the Divine 
Being. One of them is the very fact hinted at in the 

101 



102 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

passage, viz., the Lord's passing by or out of the life 
at certain times. Again and again it seems to the re- 
generated soul as if He was about to leave it finally. 
It has occurred so frequently as an experience, and 
comes up so strikingly in certain cases in the Scripture 
that it is enough to arouse thought and diligent search 
for the reason. 

We see it in the case of Abraham when sitting before 
his tent he beheld three celestial beings passing by, 
one of whom was the Lord. And it is true that they 
were going by and would not have turned aside had 
not Abraham ran after them and begged them to stop. 
In the instance of Jacob w r e find that just before he 
received the great blessing at Peniel and while wrestl- 
ing with the stranger, the Lord said, "Let me go." If 
Jacob had loosed his hold He would have gone. With 
the Syrophenician woman we see the same treatment. 
Christ turned to her and said He was not sent but to 
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Suppose her 
faith had failed here, and she had accepted that move- 
ment away from her as final; then would the world 
have been denied one of the most heart-thrilling 
instances of victorious faith and prayer that is on 
record. At Emmaus the identical course is repeated, 
when Christ who had been walking by the side of the 
two disciples made as if He would have gone on and 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 103 

by. And He would have done so if they had not 
pressed him to stay. 

And here is the same thing in principle occurring in 
Jerusalem, where it is said the child Jesus tarried 
behind, allowing those who had been with Him to go 
on without him. Who has not felt a similar experience 
in the spiritual life? Christ seems to go by the tent 
still. He has a way of withdrawing right in the midst 
of prayer, and of passing by when you thought He 
would remain. Such an inexplicable feeling as if he 
was going to leave you has come over you at times. 
What does it all mean? It is not that Christ has a 
fluctuating love, nor is fitful in His treatment of us. 
He is the same yesterday, to-day and forever, and 
could not be capricious. What He does is in highest 
wisdom and in obedience to laws that most Christians 
do not take time to study and understand. 

It must be remembered that there is a jealousy in 
love. God announces himself as a jealous God. He 
is worthy of being followed and sought after. Again 
there is the fact of free moral agency which can never 
be compelled, but has to be won over by a different 
treatment altogether. Again there is the fact of 
spiritual effort being required to develop the soul. 
The mother moves off from the child to make it walk 
to her. The Lord withdraws and is silent to make us 
pursue him and call after him. The victories that fol- 



104 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

low, the fresh discoveries made of God in these ardent 
pursuits after His vanishing presence enlarge and bless 
the soul beyond language to describe. Still again there 
are grades of salvation on earth and of reward in 
heaven. It is evident at a glance that under the same 
Gospel and surroundings of all kinds that some Chris- 
tians drag out a poor existence while others develop 
into moral stalwarts and become kings and priests unto 
God. The explanation is that the instant that God in 
harmony with the laws hinted at withdraws from the 
heart or life, the first class sit down at once in gloom 
or despair and let Him go; while the other class rise 
up at once and follow the retreating Lord, and with 
importunate prayer and patient waiting constrain him 
to return and remain. Like Abram they run after the 
angels. Like Jacob they say I will never let you go. 
Like the disciples at Emmaus they urge the retiring 
Christ to stay, and like the Syrophenician woman they 
with tears say, True, Lord, I am not worthy of the 
bread, but give me the crumbs. This was why 
Fletcher's face shone so. This was why Payson and 
Brainard can never be forgotten in the religious world. 
They were men who had a way of wrestling with God 
and would take no denial. They had a way of looking 
and calling into the silent heavens until the answer and 
the King himself would come. In a word they ran 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 105 

after the angels, and if Jesus tarried they would at 
once seek and find Him. 

2. CHRIST CAN BE LOST. 

He was lost here according to this Scripture. And 
he was lost by those who loved him. And lost in 
Jerusalem and in the Temple ! Each successive state- 
ment I make increases the wonder. And yet why be 
astonished when the same thing is happening to-day. 
Christ is still lost by his friends, and in Jerusalem and 
in the Temple. 

When the question is put, how was it done; the 
answers are various, but the solemn fact of a Saviour 
parted from cannot be denied by certain heavy hearts. 
The language of the soldier to Ahab is in substance 
what they say in explanation : ' f as thy servant was 
busy here and there, lo ! he was gone. " Many say, I 
cannot tell how it happened, but one day I woke up to 
the fact that the Saviour was no longer with me. 

Some lose Him in the bustle of life. 

Joseph and Mary were so busy buying, and selling 
and getting ready for travel that their eyes got off Jesus 
and they drifted apart. Many have done just the same 
since. They never intended the thing to happen, but 
they became so absorbed that it did. In some of these 
cases there was no flagrant sin, but strange to say 
while attending to a business or occupation that was 



106 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

legitimate and proper they gradually let go of Christ. 
They were busy buying and selling, taking care of the 
children, attending to the husband and running around 
generally, when lo the loss was discovered. There 
were hours of laughing and talking, days were con- 
sumed in entertaining company, contact with many 
people distracted and diverted the mind so that one 
night in going to bed there was no Christ in the heart. 
They were fairly jostled out of the divine companion- 
ship by the multitude ; and as a good man once said : 
"I was bustled out of my spirituality. " 

Again some people lose Christ in the church. 

It is a fearful thought to think that Jesus is parted 
with in the service of God. But just as Joseph and 
Mary got separated from him in Jerusalem, it has often 
been and still is the case. It was what happened to 
Eli's sons who became corrupt in the priesthood. It 
was what took place with Judas who retrograded from 
an apostle to a thief, betrayer and self-murderer. It is 
what is happening in a number of pulpits to-day. 
Preachers are losing Christ; the dark sad face, hard 
tone, and unctionless sermon are unmistakeable. It 
is what is taking place in Boards of Stewards, Ladies' 
Aid and Missionary Societies, and the pew as well. 
Numbers of souls are losing Jesus in Jerusalem and in 
the Temple. 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 107 

In a great revival God gave me, among many per- 
sons at the altar was a preacher from a distant city. 
The people thought he was seeking santification, but 
he was groaning after a departed Christ and lost salva- 
tion. He took me into his confidence and I never 
have nor will reveal his name. 

At another meeting the superintendent of the Sunday- 
school was on his face before the altar. I never 
saw a man weep so in my life ; he shook with great 
sobs. I bent over him think'ng that he wanted sancti- 
fication, when he groaned under his breath to me that 
he had lost Christ. Here was a backslider in charge of 
a Sunday-school of eight hundred children. 

In the same meeting I was talking with a steward at 
the altar. The man's tears wet the rail on which he 
leaned. He groaned and sobbed so that it was some 
time before I could understand him. Being a promi- 
nent member of the church I thought he was at the 
altar consecrating himself with a view to receiving the 
Baptism of the Holy Ghost, when between his groans 
he told me this. He said, u My wife has been at your 
meetings and is deeply moved. Last night she could 
not sleep, and woke me up at twelve o'clock crying out, 
'Oh Will, I have lost Christ; tell me how to find him.' 
and "Oh, Doctor," groaned the man, "I was speech- 
less. She thought I had Christ 3 but I, too, have losi 



108 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Suppose every man in the church who passes the 
collection basket, and every usher who seats the 
audience, and every singer in the choir, and every 
prominent man or woman in the pew were compelled 
to stand up and publicly confess their spiritual condi- 
tion to-day, what a shock would be occasioned on 
earth, and what an uproar of merriment would be 
heard in hell. You little know how many Christians 
have lost Jesus in Jerusalem, and more still in the 
Temple. 

3. HOW CHRIST IS LOST. 

The first answer suggested by the circumstances in 
the passage before us is that it is done through care- 
lessness. What but heedlessness could have allowed 
Joseph and Mary to be separated from the Saviour. 
And the same thing to-day is the explanation when 
such a trouble befalls the soul. The Scripture 
expressly urges to watchfulness. It is while the virgins 
slumbered the midnight cry was raised ; it was while 
the man slept that his enemy sowed tares in his field. 
And what I say unto one I say unto all, "Watch." 

But how does the thing itself happen? What are 
the steps of this departure? 

Christ is lost gradually. God loves us too much to 
leave us at once. Just as the light of day dies out of 
iiie West, so the divine light leaves the soul. There 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 109 

have been tender, gentle warnings enough, but the man 
absorbed in other things has not regarded them. 
There were looks and calls with each retiring step of 
heaven, but they w T ere not noticed or obeyed. The 
angle of divergence was made in some neglected duty 
or some persisted-in questionable thing. It was so 
small a matter that as a moral angle it would have been 
called very acute indeed, but it w T as a divergence for all 
that from the straight Christ-like life, and meant that 
in time the man and his Saviour were certain to be 
parted. It would be a long period before ships thus sail- 
ing would disappear from each other, but that day 
would come at last, and sweeping the wide sea w r ith a 
glass the companion vessel could not be found ; she had 
dipped finally beneath the horizon. Thus gradually 
the soul loses Christ. The instant w T e cease moving on 
the parallel of a perfectly consecrated life, the fact of 
spiritual distance and the additional fact of an ever 
widening distance between us and Him, and the final 
disappearance of Christ out of the heart and life 
become as veritable a reality and as patent to other 
eyes as the spectacle of the parted ships on the ocean. 
It seems that not by one great evil act are men 
parted from the Lord, but it is by a number of little 
acts, none of which are very grave and alarming. Just 
as a person does not get off of a high tower by jump- 
ing down from the top, but descends by hundreds of 



110 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

steps to the ground; so the Christian rarely ever brings 
himself down and away from the presence of Christ 
by one gross sin; but it is by a long line of little things 
said and done which were unspiritual, objectionable 
and reprehensible in an increasing degree that the 
calamity of a lost Christ takes place. One of the 
alarm signals hung out in the soul is a protracted 
spiritual coldness. Instead of going at once into a 
faithful self-examination and prayerful waiting upon 
God for help, this signal is made to mean nothing by 
the statement that the Christian life is a faith life and 
not one of feeling. It is true the life is one of faith, 
but it is also one of feeling. The Bible says, "The 
joy of the Lord is your strength,'' and Christ said, 
"These things have I. spoken unto you that my joy 
might reinain in you and that your joy might be full." 
In the book of Revelation the fault that the Saviour 
found with a certain church was that it had lost its first 
love, and in another verse he said he would spew a 
lukewarm church out of his mouth. A protracted 
spiritual coldness means that Christ is leaving, and we 
should at once fly to Him and wait on Him until the 
clear assurance of His presence is restored. 

Another way that Christ is lost by the Christian is 
by getting the eye off Christ and resting it on church 
work. This is what happened to the Jews. With all 
their boasted love of the Lord they let the Temple and 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. Ill 

Tenip-0 work come in between them and the Holy 
One. Devoted to the Temple, they killed the Lord 
of the Temple. How busy they were when Jesus stood 
in their midst silently contemplating them ! There 
was no end to religious ceremonies, the victims were 
being slain by thousands, the smoke of incense was 
rising, the priests and Levites were regular in their 
duties, the Scribes and Pharisees were fasting twice a 
week and saying long prayers ; and yet in the midst 
of it all Jesus saw spiritual death, and said that the 
outside was as fair as a glistening marble sepulchre, 
but inside was corruption and dead men's bones. 

The thought is fearful that we can get the eye off of 
Christ while abounding in His work. That we can 
lose Him at the altars of Jerusalem and in the Temple. 
That loaded down with church work, writing business 
letters, attending Board and committee meetings, 
keeping the church books and passing around the col- 
lection basket, we can become so absorbed in these 
things as to utterly lose Christ. 

The most immovable people spiritually I have ever 
known have been men and women who belonged to a 
dozen different church Boards and Societies. They 
had got their eyes off the Saviour and on their work 
and become spiritually petrified. This was what 
had happened to the steward and his wife of whom I 
spoke. He was the President of the Board of Stew- 



112 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

ards, and his wife was the President of the Ladies' 
Aid Society and prominent in other church work, and 
yet both had lost Christ. While running around in 
the name of Jesus they lost Him, and they lost Him 
in the Temple. 

This was what had occurred to the preacher I told 
you about. He said to me with a countenance full of 
pain, " I cannot tell you how it happened; but I was 
preaching, visiting and attending to all my work when 
suddenly I woke up to the fact that I had lost the Sa- 
viour." The explanation was that the eyes insensibly 
were taken from Jesus and placed on his work. 

In a certain large religious denomination there was 
a preacher greatly gifted in intellect and administra- 
tive power. He was" chosen at once to preside over 
church assemblies, and he was speedily thrust to the 
front as a leader in all church business of great mo- 
ment. He soon became absorbed in the multifarious 
duties of his position. He began to think he could 
not be spared from the world and church, when in the 
midst of it all he was laid upon his death-bed. A 
preacher in speaking to him about his spiritual condi- 
tion was first surprised and then alarmed at his evasive 
replies. Becoming still more concerned as he saw the 
state of the dying man, he took a second preacher into 
his confidence and together they visited and prayed 
with him. To their amazement they found that the 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 113 

man before them while busied in the Temple had lost 
Christ. " While thy servant was busy here and there, 
lo he w r as gone." Day after day these two servants 
of God conversed, prayed and labored with this man 
who had become so great in church affairs and so little 
in grace divine. After a week's faithful work with 
him the man said a little while before death that he 
was reconciled to go. He was saved but saved as by 
fire. 

I believe if we knew how many men and women 
prominent in. the church, how many ushers who are 
smilingly seating the congregation every Sabbath, how 
many Sunday-school teachers and members of the 
choir and preachers in the pulpit have lost Christ out 
of their hearts, the world would be horrified. We 
do not mean that they are living immoral lives, but they 
have been more loyal to church w T ork than to Jesus, 
and the jealous God is grieved and gone. The dark 
and sad countenances we often see in the pew, choir 
and pulpit confirm what I say. 

It is never to be forgotten that it is easier to attend 
windy Board and Society meetings in the name of the 
Lord than to spend the same hour alone on the knees 
with Christ. There is much pastoral visiting called 
the work of the Lord that amounts to nothing. It is 
easier to pay a social visit than to wait with groanings 
on the Lord. The jealous God sees how much work 



114 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

undertaken in His name deserves not the name and is 
simply a sop thrown out to ease conscience. 

It is happening to-day as much as in the times of 
the Scribes and Pharisees that the Temple is put in the 
place of the Lord; the House and its services are ex- 
alted and the Lord of the House is set aside. To-day 
some of the most active church workers have the most 
superficial experience; and some have none, having 
lost it all by placing the work above Christ, and the 
Temple above the Lord of the Temple. 

4. THE MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE ON DISCOVERING THE 
LOSS OF CHRIST. 

The first mistake appears in the sentence "they went 
a day's journey " without Him. They w T ere separated 
from Him, did not see Him, and yet pushed on a whole 
day's journey. It is what many are doing to-day. 
They lose Christ and go on their way. Here is the 
first mistake, and it not infrequently ends fatally. 
The thing to do when we miss the Saviour is to stop 
everything until we find Him. Let no one think it a 
loss of time, for when He is in the heart you can 
speak, write, work and live a thousand times more 
effectively. 

A second mistake comes out in the words, " They 
supposed He was in the company." 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 115 

What if He was, He was not with them. A man 
to be happy must have Christ in his heart as a con- 
scious, personal possession. It is and should be a 
poor comfort to one to feel that Christ is in the con- 
gregation or household and not in himself. There is 
neither joy nor salvation in this fact. Some husbands 
shelter themselves with the thought that their wives 
are religious, but a child could tell them that this alone 
will never save them. Some children seek a strange 
consolation in lives of sin with the reflection that 
their fathers and mothers are prominent in the church 
and pre-eminent for piety. But this will never save 
them, and if they do not repent and possess Christ for 
themselves they will be as certainly damned as the 
ungodly sons of the godly Eli were overthrown by the 
Divine judgments and lost forever. 

A third mistake is seen in the sentence, " they 
sought Him among their kinsfolk." 

This is what Joseph and Mary did, and the result 
was that they did not find Him. Doubtless they were 
much shocked. And I doubt not if you did the same 
thing you would also be shocked. My brother, sup- 
pose you try it, and to-night when you go home ask 
your wife if Christ is dwelling in her heart. And my 
sister, do you ask your husband a like question, and 
I tell you now that many of you will be astonished and 
made to mourn. 



116 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

When I commenced seeking religion as a young 
man, I was living in a country filled with ungodliness. 
There was no man I could talk with. A lady relative 
of about fifty was in the neighborhood. I knew she 
belonged to the Episcopal Church and saw her reading 
her Prayer Book on the Sabbath. In my great agony 
of soul seeking light and the Saviour, 1 went to her 
and asked her if she could direct me to Christ. I had 
thought she knew Him and had Him in her life, when 
to my amazement she told me with a troubled voice 
and face that she did not have Christ ; that she did a 
long time ago, twenty years before, but she had lost 
Him. I turned from her with a groan. I wanted a 
person who had seen Christ lately, and lo, she had not 
looked upon Him for twenty years. Like Joseph, I 
sought Jesus among my kinsfolk and He was not there. 

You think that because your husband or wife are on 
the church roll that they are all right. You suppose 
because your son sings in the choir, and your daughter 
teaches a Sunday-school class that they are safe and 
religious. Do you ask them the plain question if they 
love Christ, and their answer will trouble you. 

A fourth mistake is seen committed by the Caravan 
or large company with whom Joseph and Mary were 
traveling. Although Christ had been left behind they 
never turned back! Jesus was missing, but they went 
on. I can see the long winding line as they threaded 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 117 

the ravines and pushed across the plain. They camp 
that night without Jesus, and next morning start out 
again without Jesus, and so pass away out of Judea 
and Galilee into the great world beyond and Jesus has 
been left behind. 

With the deepest compassion I see the crowds of 
this world doing the same thing ! They toil and travel 
all day without Christ; they go home and get up 
without Him, and push on the next day, and the next, 
and the next and always without Jesus. They have 
music, papers, books, pleasures, travel and business, 
but they do not have Jesus. They do not seem to 
realize the dreadfulness of their loss, and so push on in 
life's Caravan talking, laughing, singing, loving, 
hating, camping, sleeping, arising again, pushing on 
further and further until we see them go out from under 
and beyond the horizon of our lives and disappear from 
our view forever. How we feel like calling them to 
come back; telliug that they can never meet the dan- 
gers, nor stand the toils, nor live right nor die victori- 
ously without Jesus. And we do call to them; but 
few seem to turn back. The great mass push on with- 
out the Saviour whom they have left far behind forever. 

5. THE TRUE WAY TO DO WHEN CHRIST IS LOST. 

Here again we are indebted to this wonderful text; 
the true way is shown in the conduct of Joseph and 



118 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Mary, — " they turned back again seeking Him." 
There is nothing else to do if we would find Christ. 
If we went away from Him we must return to Him. 

Necessarily it is a sorrowful seeking. The thought 
is quite a bitter one that through our own carelessness 
and neglect of duty the separation was brought about. 
That we let trifles come in between us; yes, that we 
let anything thrust itself between the soul and its 
highest joy. Some of the saddest utterances I ever 
heard fall from human lips are those that proceed from 
seekers after a lost Christ. It is a melancholy band, 
and even where God is willing to forgive them, it seems 
almost impossible for them to forgive themselves. 

I have noticed also in many instances that it takes 
longer to recover the Saviour than to lose him. Jo- 
seph and Mary lost Him in a few minutes or hours, 
but it was three days before they got him back. This 
is not compelled to be the case, but through the heart- 
sickness and mental bewilderment arising from the 
separation, the soul loses much time in finding the 
path of return. 

Still it will be a glad seeking, for with all the pain of 
recollected unfaithfulness and all the sorrow of the sepa- 
ration, the thought that he now is going back to Christ 
will of itself be an inspiring and glad thought to the 
wanderer. Sad as his heart may be, his case is un- 
speakably better than the man who remains wallowing 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 119 

in his sins far from the Saviour. Better far to turn 
back with tears, like Joseph and Mary, than to go on 
with laughter and chatter like the Caravan. 

Moreover it is to be remembered that Christ is not 
far away. The Scripture is authority for saying he is 
not far from any one of us. And in the case 
before us, when Joseph and Mary turned back from 
Beeroth to Jerusalem to seek Christ they were sepa- 
rated then from him just eight miles. This is the 
exact distance between the two places. In other words, 
they were about two hours' journey from the Lord, and 
I cannot help but think that most people are not more 
widely separated from Jesus than this. I firmly be- 
lieve that two hours spent on the face in tears, repent- 
ance, faith and prayer, would in the case of the great 
majority of spiritual wanderers restore them to the lov- 
ing embrace of the Son of God. 

Christ is not far off from the saddest, hardest and 
worst. He walked in the midst of publicans and sin- 
ners while on earth, and is near them to-day in His 
great mercy. He is oftentimes much closer than men 
dream. He walked by the side of two heart-sick dis- 
ciples for several hours before they knew Him, and 
stood before the weeping Mary in the garden before 
she recognized His voice and form. The very burden 
on the heart is His own begun work. The heart- sick- 
ness that so discourages is the result of the light that 



120 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

He has poured in, while the pain of soul shows life and 
godly sorrow. The dead do not grieve nor feel pain. 
The living do that. The very shadow that you feel 
may come from His blessed form bending over you. 

It is wonderful how utterly unable one is to judge 
and understand these phases of feeling and all the phe- 
nomena of the soul's return to God, while personally 
separated from Jesus. The sinner who is convicted 
does not know what is the matter, and the backslider 
returning to God fails to realize that the sorrow which 
bows him down is one of the drawings of heaven, is 
the direct work of the Holy Ghost, and is no occasion 
for despair, but of confidence and gladness. 

I recall a hymn which shows this very darkness and 
ignorance of the soul just before its salvation or recov- 
ery. In one verse are the lines, 

" I cried I'm the chief of sinners, 
There's no hope for a sinner like me." 

In the next verse the Divine voice is heard speaking; 
while in the third, salvation bursts on the penitent, and 
rapturous joy overflows his lips in the words, 

" No longer in darkness I'm walking, 
For the light is now shining on me." 

Just so I saw a man sink with a groan on the carpet 
before the altar, saying, " there is no hope" — when 
the very next instant with face blazing, hands clap- 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 121 

ping and body flying around the room he was shouting 
the praises of God over the full and blessed salvation 
that had come. Remember that according to David 
his kC rejoicing" followed a " broken bones" expe- 
rience. The breaking comes first, the gladness next. 

Still another feature of the recovery of Christ is that 
you will find Him where you left him. It was in 
Jerusalem they became separated from Jesus, and it 
was in Jerusalem they recovered him. It is right 
where you left Christ you will find Him. Certain 
things were done or left undone, and right there to-day 
you must return. You dropped certain duties, and 
there is Christ waiting for you to resume them. The 
burden laid upon you by the Providence of God you 
cast off; the cross of Christ you laid aside for awhile; 
and so the glory faded out of your life. The thing to 
do is to go back where you threw off the cross and 
burden, and patiently take them up again. You will 
find Christ there at that place and at that moment. 
He is waiting for you. 

Still again, I notice that the text says that the sor- 
rowing parents found "Jesus in the Temple." So it 
will be with you. The house of God is the best of places 
to find Christ. Many hearts that listen to me to-day 
grow warm and tender as they recall the city cathedral 
or plain country church at whose altars you found 
Christ. Dear to us all is the house of God from the 



122 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

recollection of many spiritual refreshings and uplifts 
and from the loving and holy associations of the place. 
But above all is it precious to a great number because 
there they first found or recovered Christ. 

A lady friend of mine was riding in a buggy with her 
husband when they passed the old country church 
where she had been converted as a girl. Requesting 
him to stop and wait on her awhile, she went up to 
the old weather-stained house in the clump of trees, 
pushed open the door and knelt down at the altar 
where when a girl her heart had opened to receive Jesus 
as her Saviour. It was an humble looking building, 
with plain pulpit and altar. The dust was on the floor 
and the spider web on the window, but a spiritual 
beauty and glory invested all because of Him whom 
she had found there. For an half hour she knelt alone 
in the shadowy old church weeping and rejoicing. 
Finally she arose and went back to her husband who 
had been patiently awaiting her in the buggy. No 
word passed, for he saw from the tear-stained cheek 
and the holy light in her face that she had met the 
Lord in the old meeting house by the road. 

Once my presiding elder and myself were entertained 
by a devoted Methodist lady at her home, and sent in 
her carriage to the country church where the first quar- 
terly meeting service on Saturday morning was to be 
held, The lady accompanied us in the carriage, 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 123 

Twenty years before she had been converted in the 
church we were going to ; but after a few years of 
church service had lost Christ. She had become botli 
bitter and melancholy. Her determination to go with 
us that morning was sudden, and on the way out I 
observed that she dropped her veil and scarcely uttered 
a word. The old church stood in a grassy plot, sur- 
rounded by a rustic graveyard, and with a few old 
trees sighing solemnly about it. The presiding elder 
was one of the godliest men I ever knew, and that 
morning he preached with great tenderness and unc- 
tion. At the conclusion of the sermon he invited peni- 
tents to the altar, and our lady entertainer who had 
sat through the entire sermon with her veil down was 
the first to respond. I noticed that instead of kneeling 
at the part of the altar which was nearest to her, she 
crossed over to the other side and knelt at a certain 
corner. It was the spot where she had found Christ 
twenty years before. She had come back to the Tem- 
ple with a sorrowing heart to recover Him whom her 
soul loved and had lost. It was a most pathetic spec- 
tacle, the lonely black-robed figure, the long sweeping 
veil, the bowed head and form. In less than ten 
minutes she found him, I felt the fact before she with 
a gush of tears announced it. When she dropped the 
veil over her face two hours before we saw a sad-faced 
woman, when she swept it aside now with trembling 



124 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

and beautiful joy what a face of holy light and love 
she turned upon us. She only lived two years after 
this, and is to-day sleeping in the old graveyard by the 
side of the church where she first found, and then 
afterwards refound her Saviour. 

Blessed Temples of God all over the land ! How I 
love to see them with uplifted spires in the city, with 
belfrey peeping above the trees of the village, or with 
plain modest front turned to the high road. Thank 
God for the churches with their open doors, and solemn 
bells, and voices of hymn and prayer. Thank God 
for the shining-faced preachers in the pulpit, and the 
godly old brethren in the Amen Corner. And thank 
God for the altar, where kneeling down in the loneli- 
ness and bitterness of repentance, we listened to the 
cries and shouts around us while the battle was pressed, 
and struggled on in the darkness after Christ. Thank 
God for the loving hands laid on the bowed head, and 
the words of cheer and direction whispered or spoken 
into the attentive ear. And above all thank God that 
at last suddenly through the gloom and storm J'esus 
appeared to our souls the fairest among ten thousand, 
and the one altogether lovely. Some of you may have 
shouted, others laughed, others of you wept as if your 
heart would break, and still others simply sat motion- 
less and voiceless with the great peace that had come 
to you. Nevertheless in spite of these different mani- 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND, 125 

festations you all knew this, that you had found Jesus 
and found Him in the Temple. This was the glorious 
crowning fact that changed this world to j^ou, and 
made the house of God the fairest of buildings to your 
eyes. 

I love thy kingdom, Lord, 

The house of thine abode, 
The church our blessed Redeemer bought 

With his own precious blood. 

Beyond my highest joy 

I prize her heaver ly ways, 
Her sweet communion, solemn vows, 

Her hymns of love and praise. 

For her my tears shall fall, 

For her my prayers ascend; 
To her my cares and toils be given 

Till toils and cares shall end. 

6. THE WAY TO KEEP FROM LOSING JESUS. 

First, keep the eye fixed steadily upon Him. Sup- 
pose Joseph and Mary had done this, then the separa- 
tion which cost them such solicitude and pain would 
never have occurred. The thing to do is to allow no 
object come between us and Christ. Keep the eye on 
Jesus, not occasionally, but fixedly and continually. It 
can be done, thank God, in the busiest life. So Paul 
says, " Looking unto Jesus." Not looking to the 
Temple, but to Jesus. There are some people who are 
absorbed in the church rather than Christ. And there 



126 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

is no question that if they paid as much attention to 
Jesus as they do the church they would be saints of the 
highest order. 

Second, keep talking to Jesus. How are we going 
to lose Him if we preserve an unbroken communion. 
When silence is realized in the soul, there is reason for 
alarm, and we should at once re-establish the heavenly 
intercourse. We read in Genesis that when Abraham 
ceased communing with God, then the Lord went up 
from him. It is so still. If we would retain Christ 
by our side we must see to the unbroken communion 
of our soul with His Spirit. 

Third, get Christ as an indweller. Many of God's 
people know him as a visitor, as one who comes and 
goes, visiting the heart and then leaving it. It is in 
these conscious absences that so much spiritual hurt is 
realized, and Satan gets in his work. There is an ex- 
perience which greatly increases our religious strength 
and so lessons the likelihood and peril of backsliding. 
This experience is spoken of by the Saviour in the 
fourteenth chapter of John where He says if we love 
Him and keep His commandments He will come unto 
us and take up His abode with us. In a word, He will 
cease to be a visitor and become an indweller. He 
who would keep Christ near all the time should seek 
this blessing. The wonder with me is how a man can 
lose the Saviour when he obtains this grace. 



CHRIST LOST AND FOUND. 127 

Finally, keep claiming " the blood." If the slightest 
shadow and spiritual trouble arises, if there has been 
any neglect of duty, any word spoken or act done that 
brings a shadow or feeling of unrest, then fly at once 
to the blood that cleanses from all sin, and claim its 
present merit and power. There is such a thing as 
staying under the blood all the time. He that does 
that will hardly lose Christ. Thousands have lived 
this life; ten thousands are living it to-day; and count- 
less millions will yet do so. God grant that you who 
have Christ to-day will never lose Him. It would be 
better to part with friends, the whole world and life 
itself, than to give up Jesus. May we hold on to Him 
at every cost, and by so doing will be gainers both in 
this world and the world to come. 



VI. 

THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 

"He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto 
God by Him.' ■ Heb. 7:25. 

THE longer I study the hearts and lives of men, 
and the more I read of the crimes of the day, 
the more convinced am I that the world needed 
an almighty and perfect Saviour; that nothing short of 
a complete ability to save unto the uttermost would do. 
Some one must be found who can descend to the 
lowest, move and change the hardest, purify the 
foulest and establish them in righteousness as they had 
before been settled in wickedness. For any one call- 
ing himself a Saviour, to be unable to grapple with and 
triumphantly meet with these conditions would be only 
to mock a heart-broken and sin-sick world with the 
word salvation. It would be the saddest of delusions 
and most crushing of disappointments. 

Such a Saviour God promised the world in Old Tes- 
tament times ; one who could heal the leprosy of the 
soul, and no matter how the line of spiritual necessity 
should be run, could travel its entire length with 
recovering grace and power, and have spiritual abund- 
ance left above all that one could ask or think. The 

128 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 129 

Old Testament world heard the promise, and fell on 
sleep, but believed that in the fullness of time this 
promised Deliverer would come. And He did come. 
But He was so unlike what they had expected, so 
humble, meek, poor, and with such lowly companions 
and associates, that when He stood before them as the 
man of sorrows, and in such contrast to the priests and 
Rabbi's of a glittering ecclesiasticism, He was rejected. 
They would not believe in Him. And as faith is the 
condition of knowing Christ, and receiving what is in 
Christ, many of them died without discovering that 
God had been in the flesh in their midst, that the long 
promised Messiah had come and they knew and felt 
Him not. Some, however, believed, and that belief 
unlocked the door, and through it Christ poured into 
them the fullness of the perfect salvation the Bible 
talks about and men need. 

The same condition of things exist to-day. The 
Uttermost Saviour is being presented to the world as 
never before. Many will not believe that He can 
destroy the works of the Devil. There are many 
Christians who will not credit the Bible statement that 
Christ can make the heart holy and keep it so. Mean- 
time the heavenly condition of knowing and receiving 
is the same. "According to your faith, so shall it be 
unto you," is the unchangeable Word. Faith is not 
onlv the condition of salvation, but the meastire of sal- 



130 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

vation. According to your faith so shall it be. And 
yet Christians with unbelief in their hearts as to purity 
of heart and holiness of life, wonder why the doctrine 
and experience seem shrouded in gloom to them. 
They fail to see that their unbelief limits the Holy One 
of Israel and ties the Almighty hands of Christ in their 
case. The gospel says: "He could do no mighty 
works there because of their unbelief." So is it still. 
Not to believe that He can, prevents Christ from doing 
what He wants to do and is perfectly able to do. Thus 
we have a melancholy band in our midst who are like 
the ship's crew we have all heard about, that were dying 
with thirst when they were in the midst of the pure 
waters of the river Amazon that with its swift current 
rushes for miles out to sea. Fresh water was all 
around them, and they had only to dip it up to drink 
and live. 

But there are believing hearts who by their faith have 
touched the Saviour, and believing for the uttermost 
have received to the uttermost. They know by blissful 
experience to-day that Christ can save thoroughly and 
all the time, that His blood cleanses from all sin, and 
that He is a complete Saviour. 

I want to draw some reflections for our comfort and 
joy about this blessed, magnificent Christ. If He is 
an uttermost Saviour then 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 181 

1. HE IS ABLE TO SAVE THE WORST OF SINNERS. 

If He could not, then words mean nothing, and the 
Scripture itself is not true. If He could not how 
sorry we would all be for such a man, what sorrowful 
expressions would fall from our lips over a sinner that 
was too far gone for Jesus to save. It seems to me 
that multiplied thousands would visit him and look 
upon him in deepest commiseration. Here is the man, 
they would say, that Christ cannot save. 

If Christ could not save him, then is He robbed of 
His wondrous glory as a perfect and Almighty Saviour. 
It is to His glory that He can and does save the vilest 
and foulest. This directs attention to Him to-day and 
inspires hope in the most abandoned. 

Let any one of you who listen to me ask how a physi- 
cian gets a national reputation and honor? It is not 
by curing a case of measles or whooping cough. It 
was his restoration of a man whom all other doctors 
despaired of, or by some skillful surgical operation, so 
that the medical magazines took the matter up and the 
man became famous. 

It is not the winning of a few petty cases in some 
small county court that obtains national fame for the 
lawyer, but his skillful and successful management of 
some great case in chancery, or his wonderful speech 
in behalf of a criminal, that saved the man's life, when 
the whole countrv and bar had considered the case 



132 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

hopeless. So it is that the saving of the worst men 
brings peculiar honor and glory to the Son of God. 
Hence He went among the abandoned while on earth, 
casting out devils from men, converting public de- 
frauders, redeeming fallen women and saving a thief in 
the very moment of death. The reproach urged against 
Him that He dined with publicans and sinners, was 
really to His glory, for as he said, the whole have no 
need of a physician, and He had come to save that 
which was lost. 

John B. Gough was a great Temperance Lecturer., 
but he mixed an abundance of gospel with his addresses, 
and so many sinners were saved under his labors. A lady 
one day handed him a white handkerchief smoothly 
ironed, saying with happy smiles: "Mr. Gough, when 
you came to our town, this handkerchief was wringing 
wet with tears wept into it over a drunken husband. 
Under your words he has become a saved man, the 
handkerchief is dry, and I bring it to you as a souvenir 
or rememberance of your meeting and the great joy 
that has come to me." 

I thought when I read the incident that the devil is 
in the business of making handkerchiefs wet with the 
sorrows that sin brings. Oh, the tears that are being 
shed to-day in secret by those who have sinned or 
have been sinned against ! One could wring water out 
of these handkerchiefs ! But thank God Jesus is in the 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 133 

business of drying handkerchiefs, and He is doing so, 
and will continue to do so by His saving and comfort- 
ing power until all tears shall be wiped away and 
every handkerchief wet with these weeping eyes of 
ours shall be made dry by the warm beams of the Sun 
of Righteousnesss and smooth by the pressure of His 
tender consoling hand. 

2. HE IS ABLE TO SAVE THE MOST HOPELESS OF BACK- 
SLIDERS. 

Here is another form of sin and condition of misery. 
It is a peculiar case, and cannot be dealt with as the 
sinner. The man is in despair over the fact that he 
has sinned against light, knowledge and grace. He 
knew better, had the Saviour with him, enjoyed 
communion with heaven, and yet threw all away for 
the beggarly elements of this world. He sees hope for 
the transgressor, but sees no light for himself. He is 
fond of quoting what was said about Esau, that he 
sought the recovery of his forfeited blessing bitterly 
with tears, but in vain. He refers } T ou in his misery 
to the words of Paul that if a man sin wilfully after 
receiving the truth that there is no more sacrifice for 
sins. In a word, backsliders as a rule go on in despair. 

The question is can Christ save them. He who went 
down into the well for the ox that had fallen in, will 
He not seek the sheep gone astray on the mountains. 



134 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

He who pulled us out of the pit, has He no shepherd's 
crook, no lasso of grace that He could throw about 
one and draw him back should he go astray ? 
If He cannot, then there is one kind of sin that Christ 
has made no provision for, and He is not the uttermost 
Saviour that the world wanted and looked for. 

But I rejoice that the Saviour can recover the back- 
slider. Strange to say that it is not by threats and 
abuse. I once thought that the proper method w T as 
to excoriate and blister all such individuals. The 
Bible teaches differently; Christ's method is the 
opposite. 

One way is by tender messages. Tell the backslider 
that "I am married to him." Let the hearer remem- 
ber that God does not believe in divorces. Married to 
the soul through grace He wants no separation. Again 
He says, "Return and I w T ill heal all your back- 
slidings." This shows that the man left God, and 
God did not leave the man. Still again this tender- 
ness of spirit is shown in Christ's announcement 
through Mary of His resurrection to the disciple who 
had denied Him, "Tell my disciples and Peter that I 
have risen from the dead." I have thought how those 
two words must have thrilled the heart of Simon; and 
how he asked Mary are you sure that He said "and 
Peter?" Yes, she replied these were His very words, 
"Tell my disciples a?id Peter." From that moment 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 135 

the man hoped, and so became ready for the interview 
and restoration on the banks of Lake Galilee. 

Another way of reaching them is by the power of 
beautiful and sacred memories. 

This is the secret of the backsliders unhappiness; 
he remembers the day when God's candle shined on 
his head and the secret of the Lord was in his taber- 
nacle. The hymn that all of us are familiar with 
expresses the burden of his soul : 

"What peaceful hours I once enjoyed, 
How sweet their mem'ry still." 

Christ calculates on this very misery to draw the man 
back to Him. He know T s that remembering the beau- 
tiful past, the hours of grace, he can never feel peace 
again until he returns. And I thank God many do 
return. 

A third spiritual power in the recovery is seen in the 
fact that Christ once having occupied the heart no one 
else can fill His place. Somehow the w r alls of the life 
have been pushed out, and the ceiling lifted up by that 
coming in of the Saviour. Little things of earth once 
rilled the heart, and the man in a measure was con- 
tented; but after Jesus came in and broadened and 
uplifted, nothing else and no one else can ever fill it 
again. It is vain for them to try. It is folly and dis- 
appointment to have them try. 



136 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

When I was in Scotland some years ago, I saw a 
number of tourists sitting down one after another in 
the chair of Walter Scott where he wrote those wonder- 
ful brain creations that won for him the title of the 
Wizard of the North. The spectacle to me was not 
without its absurdity as I saw ordinary people sitting 
where that extraordinary man sat. The contrast was 
tremendous. They could not fill the seat in the true 
sense. So the heart once filled by Jesus and now 
vacated is to be pitied. Many are the persons and 
things a man introduces in order to get the joy and 
rest of former years. It is a hopeless endeavor; no 
one, and nothing can fill the place once occupied by the 
Son of God. 

Christ knows this, and as His Spirit steadily though 
slowly is able to reveal this to the disconsolate man, 
the end can easily be conjectured. Sooner or later the 
heart melts, the feet turn, the voice cries Forgive, and 
lo! the healing comes, and the backslider is home 
again from his wanderings 

3. HE IS ABLE TO SAVE FROM THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. 

Here is still another aspect of the redeeming grace 
of Christ. He can forgive and restore, but what about 
the effect of these forgiven sins and wanderings on the 
character and life. Can a soul ever be the same or 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 137 

what it might have been, had not these transgressions 
taken place? 

In reply I would say that if Christ cannot meet the 
felt need at this point w r ith His remedying blood and 
grace, then He is not the perfect Redeemer the world 
wanted. Here w T ould be a time where He w r ould come 
short and fail, and that, too, in a most important place. 

Some take a gloomy view here and regard spiritual 
lapses as fatal wounds from w T hich the individual 
cannot entirely recover in soul integrity and moral 
health and power. It is needless to say that these 
people have not seen the real Christ, or anyhow, all 
that is in the Saviour. 

A preacher of my acquaintance was addressing a 
congregation that I had left in a revival blaze, and told 
them that while he doubted not that they had been for- 
given and sanctified, yet they w r ere not to forget that 
the effect of their past iniquities was in them now and 
would remain. That part he insisted could not be 
remedied. To strengthen his position he related a 
time-w T orn incident of a sinful boy whose father in order 
to convict him requested him to drive a nail in a six 
foot plank every time he disobeyed him. The boy did 
so, and one day after several months' lapse of time, 
with his eyes full of tears he brought the board to his 
father full of nails, each one of which represented a 
wrong act. The sight really did convict him, and he 



138 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

said: " Father I had no idea that I was such a wicked 
son; and I want to do better." The father told him 
he was glad to hear him speak thus, and suggested 
that every time he did right, to draw out a nail. Again 
the boy obeyed, and the day came when with a radiant 
face he brought the plank with every nail gone. The 
father expressed himself pleased, but with a grave face 
said, "My son, you have drawn the nails, but look at 
the nail-holes. " So applied the preacher: God for- 
gives our sins, but the effect of these sins on our souls 
and characters remains; the nails are gone, but the 
nail-holes are left. 

In reply I wrote to the brother who informed me of 
the episode, and told him that the illustration while 
striking was poor theology and worse Scripture. That 
as an illustration it failed anyhow, for I knew a num- 
ber of carpenters who could plane that plank smooth, 
fill up the nail-holes with cement and paint it so that 
you would never know a nail had been in it. And 
above all I knew of a Carpenter who once lived in 
Nazareth who could plane the soul smooth, fill up the 
cavities in our spiritual nature made by sin with the 
cement of His grace, and so paint us with the crimson 
of Calvary, that one meeting us in heaven would never 
know that we had sinned; that it is out of just such 
weather-boarding He is building the mansions of glory 
in the New Jerusalem. 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 139 

Not long after this on glancing at a religious paper 
published in a Home for Fallen Girls I saw a poem on 
the first page entitled : ^^ ~- - 

11 The bird with a broken pinion 
Never soars as high again.' * 

Each verse ended with these lines. Immediately I sat 
down and wrote to the lady manager of the Home that 
I marvelled at her publishing such a soul-paralyzing 
poem; that having lifted the girls out of the depths, 
she immediately struck out of them the hope of soar- 
ing and reaching spiritual heights by this piece of ver- 
sified false-hood; that as a Mother Goose jingle it was 
a success, but as an expression of good theology and 
true gospel it was a decided failure. 

In the first place we are not birds to begin with and 
have no wings to break. In the second place I believe 
that if both wings of a bird were shot off, lie who 
made the bird could touch its mangled pinions and 
make, if need be, new wings and even stronger to beat 
the air and lift the flyer above the world. In the third 
place the application of this melodious jingle to sinful 
men and women is utterly contradicted in the Bible and 
life. Truly Mary Magdalene had her pinions broken 
and she was bleeding on the ground where the archer 
of hell had shot her. But some One greater than Satan 
bent over her, touched her, and she flew with the mes- 



140 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

sage of the Resurrection to the heart-sick disciples. 
She flew higher than she had ever flown before. 

John Newton was a fearful character. All the means 
of grace had failed to touch him, and so God brewed a 
special storm at sea to awe his haughty spirit. The 
clouds and waves knotted themselves together, the 
thunders crashed in platoons, the lightnings poured 
dow r n in electric cataracts — the scene w T as one of horror, 
and the heart of the bold bad man trembled and sank 
before the Omnipitent God w r ho was flinging His wrath 
abroad. Falling on his face on the deck of the ship he 
called for mercy, and God forgave him then and there. 
Later on in England, he w 7 as sanctified and preached 
with the courage of Paul and wrote hymns with the 
sw r eetness of John. Look into the Methodist Hymn 
Book and when you read a hymn especially beautiful 
tender and pure you will find John Newtons name at 
the top. I recall a couple of stanzas of one of them: 

" I saw One hanging on a tree 
In agonies and blood, 
Who fixed His dying eyes on me 
As near His cross I stood. 

Sure never 'till my latest breath 

Can I forget that look; 
It seemed to charge me with His death 

Tho' not a word He spoke. " 

As you feel the heart melt and eyes fill under these 
tender and solemn lines do you think that John 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 141 

Newton, whose pinions bad been broken by the shots 
of Satan; was soaring as high again? 

Hallelujah ! Our Christ is able to save unto the 
uttermost. He can undo the works of the devil. He 
found our hearts black, and made them whiter than 
the snow. He lifted us up from the pit, and will yet 
place us above the stars. Hallelujah! Glory! Bless 
the Lord! Amen! 

4. HE IS ABLE TO SAVE US FROM SINNING. 

This is one of the plainest promises and statements of 
Divine grace we have in the Bible. Nearly every 
prophet spoke of it as a great coming blessing or 
deliverance in the last days. Ezekiel, Isaiah, Malachi 
and Daniel all wrote about it. The angel said to Mary 
that His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save 
His people from their sins. John the Baptist and St. 
Paul alike preached about it, while Jesus Himself 
dwelt upon it. The great need of men, and the great 
promise of God is deliverance from sin. And when 
we remember that all our trouble comes from sin, what 
a mockery and disappointment that plan of salvation 
would be which did not or could not cleanse us and 
keep us clean from all iniquity. 

But I rejoice that Christ is just such an uttermost 
Saviour. He can undo what Satan has done, and for 
this purpose was manifested in the world that He 



142 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

might destroy the works of the devil. This accounts 
for the glad note of promise in the Old Testament, and 
the hallelujah of fulfillment in the New. Christ can 
and does save from all sin. 

But how does He do it? Men seem to know how 
we are made sinful, but how is it that we are kept from 
sinning? 

There is a way of explaining it. There is a phil- 
osophy in full salvation. A true hearted inquiry will 
be rewarded by seeing that redemption from sin rests 
on common sense principles although it is a heavenly 
revelation. 

One explanation is that Christ by a second work of 
grace takes out of us the proneness to wander or bent 
to sinning. While regeneration gives us power not to 
sin, the strange inward inclination is left that asserts 
itself at different times with more or less power. This 
tendency arises from the presence of inbred sin, that 
unpardonable and unrenewable nature or principle left 
in the soul after conversion. It is this sad inheritance, 
this carnal mind which is not subject to the law of God 
neither indeed can be, that accounts for the wandering 
propensities of the child of God. It is this very bias 
or principle that Christ removes or destroys with the 
Baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire. The soul thus 
blessed rejoices in the deliverance from a proneness to 
wander, The man does not sin, because the inclina* 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 143 

tion is gone. He is still a free moral agent and is in 
the peril that encompasses every creature on moral 
probation from Adam and the angels down; but still 
the old leaning in forbidden directions is gone. He 
does not sin because he does not want to sin. We 
hear many attribute the dark fault of transgression to 
this rebellious movement within; but suppose this 
drift or tendency is gone, then why should one sin? 

A second feature in the deliverance is that the 
Saviour so fills the soul with the Holy Ghost that 
there is no room for Satan and sin. 

Many overlook the weight of this truth. That it is 
full of force, the slightest thought will show. If a 
vessel is filled with one substance how can there be 
room for another? If a cup be filled with melted gold, 
what room is there even for air. So fill the soul of the 
believer with the Holy Ghost and there is no place for 
the adversary and his works. This is why the com- 
mand in the Scripture is so urgent that we be " filled 
with the Spirit.*' This is why Christ bade the disciples 
tarry in Jerusalem until they should be filled with the 
Holy Ghost. 

I have noticed that the best way to get a rat out of 
his hole in the ground is to fill it with water. Imme- 
diately he comes forth, and tarries not on the order of 
his going. As long as that rat-hole is kept filled with 
water, its former occupant does not return. He may 



144 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

visit it and look at it, but does not enter. If the earth 
is allowed to soak up the water, then he returns, but 
never while it is kept filled with that element with 
w r hich according to his constitution he cannot adjust 
his breathing apparatus and general organism. 

So the best way to utterly cast out Satan and sin is 
to be filled with the Holy Ghost. The devil cannot 
live in the soul replete with holy fire. Isaiah long ago 
cried out : " Who can dwell with devouring fire? " and 
answers in the next breath — " He that walketh right- 
eously and speaketh uprightly." Heaven overflowing 
with the splendor and majesty of the holy God would be 
torture to Lucifer; and a soul fired, glowing and filled 
with the Holy Ghost cannot be dwelt in by the adver- 
sary. It is not only suffering to him, but its own 
divine preoccupancy and heaven fulness casts him out. 
As long as that soul remains in this state, Satan can- 
not enter, He may hang around in the neighborhood 
and plot its overthrow, but he cannot come in. His 
only hope is to be found in earth soakage or the leak- 
age of grace that is beheld in some lives. Then it is 
that the old gray rat of hell returns to his former 
quarters. 

Some profess to be amazed how such a thing can be ; 
how a sanctified soul can ever fall into sin or receive 
the devil again. All this is answered by the words of 
Christ who tells us of a man who had a field of wheat 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 145 

(not tares), and while he slept his adversary came and 
sowed tares. He also spoke of a man from whom evil 
spirits had been cast, but by some lack of faithfulness 
upon the part of the individual whose soul had been 
swept and garnished, Satan with other evil spirits 
came and took possession of him again. 

Our privilege and duty is to keep filled with the 
Spirit. This is our best defence. Satan cannot enter 
a soul that is always full of the Holy Ghost. 

A third feature of the deliverance from sin is seen in 
the power of a manifestation of Christ to the soul of 
the believer. 

Many have utterly overlooked this promise and 
privilege, and the wondrous moral effect it exercises 
upon the life. And yet here it is in John XIV., 18-23, 
in which Christ tells His disciples that it is a coming 
and manifestation of Himself to believers. To the 
man who keeps his commandments and loves him, 
He says: " I will manifest myself to him." Pardon 
is a manifestation of mercy to a sinner, but here is a 
disclosure of grace to followers. Here is an unveiling 
of Christ Himself to the believer in such transporting 
glory that the man ever after feels weaned from earth, 
joined to heaven, established, satisfied and running 
over with a bubbling joy. He is settled by a vision, 
knowledge and possession of Christ never enjoyed 
before. 



146 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Who wonders that so many converts are found stray- 
ing from the fold into forbidden fields who have not 
had this entrancing view of the Divine Shepherd? 
Who marvels at the wandering affections of God's 
people who have not yet beheld Christ as the Bride- 
groom of the soul. It is that vision, that showing 
Himself to the believer, that manifestation of His 
personal beauty and ineffable holy charms that the 
soul fairly intoxicated with love of the personal Christ 
wants nothing better, and desires no one else. Now 
for the first time the real depth of certain Bible expres- 
sions are understood, and the heart fairly revels in 
them. Now indeed, " He is the chief among ten 
thousand — the one altogether lovely." 

The difficulty of securing the attention and inspiring 
the love of a man or woman whose heart is filled with 
the image, and whose pulses thrill at the name of 
another, is readily acceded. So Christ can stamp His 
picture in our hearts, fill our souls with ecstacy at His 
touch and voice, and cause us to be contented under 
the loss of all things, so long as we have Him. This 
is the type of religious experience that is to save the 
Church from backsliding, and the life that is to capture 
the world for God. 

The Song of Solomon contains the thought I am 
advancing now. For a long time I failed to see the 
meaning and realize the force of this small book of the 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 147 

Old Testament. I used to wonder why it was in the 
Bible at all, and thought it would be better for it not 
to be there. I thought it was gross, when to-day 
I see there is not a more profoundly spiritual book in 
the volume of sacred writ. The very manifestation 
and experience I speak of, glows and burns in the song 
of the wise man. The bridegroom is seen to be with 
the bride, but she is not all that she should be, and 
falls asleep, and awakes to find him whom she loved 
gone. He placed, however, his hand on the lock of 
the door, and left enough perfume by his touch to 
inflame her soul for his presence if she needed that in 
addition to arouse her. She might well reason that if his 
fingers drop sweetness, then how much more of that fra- 
grance is in himself. So she starts out to find him, and 
it proves a difficult search. There are ridiculers and 
opposers. She asks the daughters of Jerusalem, but 
they have not seen him. She approaches the watch- 
man of Zion with the query " Saw ye him whom my 
soul loveth? " In reply they answered with stones, 
and wounded her. But she was not to be diverted 
from her purpose, and so still seeking, at last the dis- 
covery is made and reunion is seen. All this is told 
in a delightful chronological confusion, as would be 
natural in the language of love, and as is also notably 
seen in the repetitions or going over again of facts in 
oriental narratives. It would be hard to draw a picture 



148 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

of more perfect delight, contentment and restful love, 
than in the words of the bride after she has found her 
love. " He brought me to the banqueting house, and 
his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, 
comfort me with apples ; for I am sick of love. His 
left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth 
embrace me." The great truth that right here appeals 
to the reader is, that with such a love and such a 
gladdening presence, how vain it would be to try to 
win this happy, contented heart away. She is satisfied. 

It was quite a while before I saw in my Bible studies 
that there is a two-fold seeking spoken of; one in 
which Christ seeks the soul of the lost, and the other 
a seeking by the believer of Christ Himself. He first 
finds us, and now after that, we are to find Him in the 
deep, delightful sense we have been speaking. The 
Scripture tells in a sentence concerning that latter 
search, that "In the day ye seek me with all your 
heart, ye shall find Me." 

In the Song of Solomon is the portrayal how it all 
happened. When Christ found you, you possessed a 
delightful experience and great joy for a while. That 
there would be withdrawings of His presence you did 
not dream. But the melancholy experience came. 
Perhaps you slept and let Him slip away. Perhaps 
He had to leave you to make you ask the question, why 
does He leave me? This anxious interrogation would 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 149 

bring out the fact of inbred sin. Jesus cannot and will 
not abide in the soul with carnality or the old man. 

Regeneration is made up of delightful visits of the 
Son of God, but the abiding of his glorious presence 
and personality is the result of a second work of grace, 
called sanctification, in which inbred sin is burned out 
by the baptism of the Holy Ghost. As the believer 
discovers these momentous facts of the spiritual life, 
he begins to seek now after Christ himself. It is not 
a blessing so much he wants as the Blesser. He wants 
Jesus enthroned, and always abiding in the soul. As 
soon as the object of his search is discovered, hell 
opposes him. Ridicule and resistance also meet him 
in quarters where one w T ould hardly expect such things. 
The daughters of Jerusalem are asked if they have 
seen Him, but as they all belong to the Ladies' Aid 
Society, with its bustling activity that transforms God's 
Church into part kitchen and part theatre, they can 
give the inquirer no help. Then the watchmen of Zion 
are interrogated, and they answer with stones. One 
seeking is enough for them. Christ sought them and 
found them; they want nothing more and nothing 
better. They got it all in conversion, there is noth- 
ing more, is their discouraging statement. Somehow 
the difference between Christ finding them, and their 
finding Christ, does not seem to strike them. But 
great is the difference. Happy is the man or woman 



150 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

who will not be stoned into silence and spiritual inac- 
tivity. Blessed the soul that presses on with wounds 
and bruises of spirit, toward Him who left enough 
frankincense on the door lock of a single experience to 
make the heart pant after the whole Christ. If the 
fingers are so fragrant, what of Him? If for an hour 
he was so precious, what must it be to have him 
in the soul all the time? So on you go, nothing 
daunted by looks, smiles and blows, until at last, hal- 
lelujah to God ! you find Him. Was it on a mountain 
of myrrh you discovered Him? Surely nature itself 
was like a bed of roses that day, and hillocks swelled 
into lordly mountains covered w T ith cinnamon groves, 
and heaven was in full view, whether we looked 
through sunset bars, or watched a curtain of gold roll 
up in the eastern sky. The soul is taken now to a 
banqueting house. It is hungry no more. Flagons 
of wine and rosy apples, standing for sweetness 
and exhiliration, make heavenly food. The banner 
of love is over you. It is no concealed blessing; 
the standard is lifted for all to see; it is the 
pennon of holy, heavenly love. Nor is this all — 
He is there whom the soul loveth and hath found 
for itself. Sweet, delicious, trembling, blessed dis- 
covery. u His left hand is under my head — his right 
hand doth embrace me." What a picture of content. 
It is God's own sketch of the complete satisfaction of 



THE UTTERMOST 8AVIOUR. 151 

the soul, when Christ becomes all, and in all. It is an 
Old Testament photograph of perfect love. 

" I am sick of love," said the happy finder of the 
bridegroom. Not disagreeably sick, and not sick of 
love in a sense made by the drifting meaning of the 
preposition; but sick with love, as fever runs along 
the veins and crimsons the face ; so this perfect love 
strikes in, goes through, shines in the eyes, rings in 
the tremulous voice, and asks no higher privilege than 
always to be thus in the arms of Christ. 

With such a love, such an up welling joy, such deep 
inward content and satisfaction in Him. the difficulty 
of enticing the soul away into sin becomes more 
apparent. The establishment in righteousness is seen 
by the power of a glorious heart-filling manifestation 
of the grace and glory of the Son of God to the soul. 

A fourth explanation of deliverance from sin, is seen 
in the power over Satan by an indwelling Christ. 

I have noticed that our highway tramps are very 
bold in their demands for food, when they see no man 
about the house, but only a frightened woman answers 
the knock. How insolently he orders, rather than 
begs for food. He wants hot coffee and bread. Bat 
what if right in the midst of this blustering he hears a 
heavy step in the hall, and catches sight of a man's 
hat? Lo, he is gone. Satan is the old tramp of 
eternity, and can tell at a glance whether Christ is a 



152 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

visitor or indweller with our souls. His boldest de- 
mands are made when he sees unmistakeable signs 
that Christ is not in the house. These are the days 
when regenerated people say and do so many question- 
able things. All discouraged they spread the table, in 
answer to the evil one. Christ is not sensibly with 
them that day, and the Devil knows it. Oh for the 
grace that makes the Saviour a constant abider in the 
soul ! He is the strength of the house ; and when the 
adversary sees the thorn-crowned face looking out of 
the window of the soul at him, he can only stand it a 
little while, and away he goes. 

A fifth explanation of the deliverance is seen in the 
perpetual intercession for us, on the part of Christ. 
Hear what the text says : " He is able to save them to 
the uttermost — seeing that He ever liveth to make 
intercession for them." 

A man once sent me word that my preaching the 
doctrine of living without sin, destroyed the advocacy 
of Christ, for the Bible said, " If any man sin we have 
an advocate with the Father.' ' Now then, he argued, 
if we live without sin, what need of Christ? The 
message amazed me to see that the man utterly failed 
to realize that the advocacy of Christ does not exist 
that we might sin, but to save us from sin ; and fur- 
thermore, to keep us from sin. Let every one listen 
to the whole verse again, from which the text is taken: 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 153 

"He is able also to save them to the uttermost, that 
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to 
make intercession for them. " Here it is plainly stated 
that Christ makes constant prayer and advocates our 
cause continually, in order to save us to the uttermost, 
or keep us from all sin. 

Thank God for this tireless advocate of the skies ; 
thank God for the perpetual intercession of Jesus 
Christ before the throne of the Father in our behalf. 
Where would we have been to-day but for these 
prayers? What sins we have been diverted from, and 
what falls prevented in our lives by that loving, un- 
wearied pleader in heaven. 

5. HE IS ABLE TO KEEP US SAVED ALL THE TIME. 

If Christ could not do this he would not be an utter- 
most Saviour, nor the Saviour that men need and 
desire. We want not an occasional deliverance, not a 
spasmodic purity and piety, but an everlasting salva- 
tion, even in this world. 

If you will notice the marginal reading in the King 
James version, you will see that the word " uttermost M 
is translated :: evermore." He is able to save ever- 
more. This is a beautiful and blessed salvation. Think 
of it, always saved. 

You and I know of people who are saved Sunday, 
but not Monday. God send us the evermore salvation. 



154 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

We have seen persons who were religious when in 
pious company and spiritual surroundings, but the 
instant they were thrown in worldly circles they would 
fall into the spirit, conversation, and conduct of the 
new company. They were like spiritual chameleons. 
There are Christians who keep God's commandments 
in America, but break them in England. There they 
go sight-seeing on the Sabbath, and otherwise violate 
the sanctity of the day, as if the Atlantic ocean had 
washed away their obligations to God. 

I want a salvation that saves us on both sides of the 
Atlantic, in all kinds of company, in each hour of the 
day, in every day of the year, through every season 
that rolls, and in every changing circumstance of life, 
world without end. This is what Christ came to do, 
and does do in many lives. This is why He is called 
the uttermost Saviour; He can save evermore. 

I once read of a devout man, but who was a stranger 
to sanctification, that when he felt a growing excite- 
ment in conversation, would withdraw to an opposite 
corner of the room, and then utter a whispered prayer, 
"Lord, calm the spirit of thy servant." I thought 
then that this was a remarkable indication of piety, 
but I have since seen that the man, good as he was, 
did not know Christ as the uttermost Saviour. Why 
need I walk to another corner of a room to get Christ 
to cleanse : keep 3 restore, or calm me? If He is the 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 155 

Saviour the Bible speaks of, He can save and keep in 
every corner of every room, of every house, in every 
land, both now and forevermore. Not only at Jeru- 
salem and Mt. Gerizim is Jesus to be found and His 
presence realized, but here, there, anywhere, every- 
where, and at all times the precious blood cleanses, 
and the mighty Saviour keeps. 

Long before I received this blessing, I became ac- 
quainted with an elderly lady who enjoyed this grace. 
Her money was swept from her, her husband was 
thriftless, her children trifling, her health failed, and 
trouble after trouble beat upon her; yet through it all 
I marked a serenity of spirit that none of these things 
disturbed. She never fretted or murmured, but 
through all her sorrows, and sicknesses, and reverses, 
bore a sweet, patient, loving smile upon her face that 
did far more than argumentative sermons and logical 
books, to prove there was such an experience as entire 
sanctification. She possessed the uttermost Saviour, 
and enjoyed the evermore salvation. 

6. HE IS ABLE TO SAVE EVERYBODY. 

I love to think of the almightiness of Christ. That 
He is not only a personal Saviour but a w r orld-wide 
Redeemer. He must be this to be the uttermost 
Saviour. 



156 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Suppose there were classes and nations He could not 
reach. That depths of moral turpitude embarrassed, 
and lumbers staggered Him. Then would Heaven 
have sent a deliverer to earth who did not deserve the 
name. He would not be as mighty as sin, and could 
not undo with grace the far reaching works of evil. 
Some men then would have to be lost on account of 
the weakness of salvation, and some tribes and nations 
would have to perish, because the salvation of our God 
could not compass all. 

Who believes this? Every heart before me cries out 
Christ could save all men, and now, if they would let 
Him. 

He certainly did enough to beget faith in us concern- 
ing His power. When He healed ten lepers in a single 
second of an incurable disease, that was to show you 
what He could do. When He made ten thousand 
devils come pouring like a black Niagara out of the 
man, that was to show us He could cast all devils out 
of all men, if men would allow Him. When He sancti- 
fied one hundred and twenty souls in a moment with 
a flash of holy fire from heaven, and when in the next 
hour He saved the souls of three thousand men, and 
next day five thousand, that was to let us know that 
He could at this moment regenerate and sanctify every 
human being on this round world who would look up, 
call on Him 3 and believe and receive. 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 157 

Right now, while I speak, Christ is saving souls in 
ten thousand different towns and cities over our land. 
Xoi is that all. He is saving in other countries and 
nations as well. Salvation is descending upon the 
soldier in the army, the sailor on the sea, the farmer 
in the furrow T , the toiler in the mine, the invalid in the 
sick chamber, the condemned man in the prison. He 
is omnipresent with the human race as the atmosphere, 
and would rush as the breath of life into every dying 
soul, as air into the respiratory lung, if men would 
receive Him. 

He that is such a being, and is doing such a work, 
could easily save the entire world the next moment, if 
this world would call upon Him. So far from such an 
universal waiting upon Him, staggering and over- 
whelming Him, it is just what He w T ants. Nothing 
would please Him better. Long ago He has given the 
challenge or invitation, " Look unto me, all ye ends of 
the earth, and be ye saved." Happy would it be for 
the world if it would cast this upward look ! A shock 
of divine glory would make this old earth tremble like 
that house in Jerusalem shook w r hen the Holy Ghost 
filled the disciples. Devils would fly like night birds 
from the blaze of Gospel day, and wear crepe for a 
thousand years, while dog fennel grew rank over every 
road and path to hell. The millenium would sweep 
like a belt of light and fire around the globe, and 



158 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

angels swinging low in the heavens would sing their 
glad songs over every field and town of the happy, 
restored planet, not this time about the advent of the 
Redeemer, but over the perfect, world-wide victory of 
the Son of God. 

Thus far in the history and progress of redemption 
w<e have seen the love, grace, wisdom, goodness, and 
mercy of Christ, but only small measures of His power. 
" The thunder of His power," is to be beheld in the 
coming ages of the w r orld. Just now only individuals, 
and small groups of repenting and believing souls, will 
allow Him to w r ork in them. But the day is drawing 
near when, under the proclamation of the Gospel, men 
will hear w T hat Christ is able and willing to do; faith 
will spring up, glory-w 7 ill come down, communities and 
cities will be swept into salvation, as thousand acre 
fields are engulfed by the rushing Mississippi, and 
kingdoms and nations will be born unto God in a day. 
The mouth of the Lord has spoken it. 

O the omnipotent forces locked up in Christ to-day 
through the unbelief of men! He can do no mighty 
works, because of unbelief. But faith in Him unties 
His hands, raises the flood-gates, brings down rushing 
cataracts of salvation, and unlooses from the skies 
heavenly storms that will blow the foulness of sin 
away, and leave the atmosphere of heart, home, and 



THE UTTERMOST SAVIOUR. 159 

the world, pure, sweet, and fresh with the life, love, 
and glory of heaven. 

In Him is all the fulness of the God-head bodily. 
He is able to save them to the uttermost that come 
unto God by Him. And all that come; thank God 
for the Bible proclamation that all can come. He is 
able to save, not simply a few, or a larger number, 
but all that come. 

But the condition is that we must come to Him. 
He that stays away from Christ is lost both now and 
forever. He that comes to Jesus, whether for pardon 
or holiness, will be met, welcomed, embraced, loved, 
blessed, and saved to the uttermost. Oh that every 
hungry, weary, lonely, sin-sick soul would come to 
Jesus now. He says: " Him that cometh unto Me, I 
will in no wise cast out." 



VII. 

THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 

"Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house, that there 
may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, 
saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of 
heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be 
room enough to receive it. — Malachi, 3: 10. 

THE book of Malachi contains a recognition of the 
fact of Divine judgment as a result of faithless- 
ness upon the part of God's people. They had 
kept back that which belonged to the Lord and were 
now "cursed with a curse." Poverty of various kinds 
was now upon them; and the prophet was showing 
them the way out of their calamities, and did it most 
powerfully in the words of the text. 

If any one wants to know what spiritual poverty is, 
what it is to have heaviness of soul, and get into a foggy 
and twilight-kind of experience, let him take from God's 
altar that which was once given to Him. It may be 
a small thing, but there is nothing little in the eyes of 
Love; and the fact that it is a mere trinket which 
has been presented to the friend or loved one 
and possesses little value, does not make the pang 
less when it is taken away, for it is the with- 
drawal of what was once given which hurts. God is 

160 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 161 

a jealous God; He says so, and He cannot look with 
indifference upon such acts, when we remove from the 
altar anything once devoted to Him. He would not be 
true to Himself or to us if He turned the same look 
on us when we did these things. So to "rob" Him 
even of the smaller gifts is to bring at once the hazy 
cloudy feeling to the soul, and persisted in there comes 
greater calamity. 

So the text is an exhortation along this line and 
coupled with a promise. It is a wonderful promise 
and covers a very remarkable experience. We notice, 
first 

1. THE EXHORTATION. 

"Bring all the tithes into the store-house." 
It is a blessed thought to me that God w T ill accept 
anything from us. He owns everything, and yet 
here He is placing Himself in the attitude of a 
recipient of favors, while we pose as donors. Mean- 
time there is nothing w r e bring Him but already belongs 
to Him. The whole occurrence is wonderful. 

Malachi calls the things we owe God, tithes. For a 
long time I had a very narrow conception of the w T ord. 
It had but one meaning, but as time passed and the 
Book unfolded and increasing light came, I saw it 
had greater lengths and breadths, and that to bring all 
the tithes to God meant a great deal. 



162 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

One meaning, of course, of the word refers to the 
tenth of our substance. This was a law in the Levitical 
economy and a custom observed by Abraham. There 
is no hint that it has been revoked. If a Jew loved 
his God enough to give this amount, we ought cer- 
tainly to be as devoted to our Saviour. It should be 
a part of the consecration to which Malachi exhorts 
us. What a blessing it would be to the church and 
to us all if we did so. 

Again we owe the Lord a seventh of our time. The 
world has never been released from this obligation, and 
that same world never practices a poorer piece of econ- 
omy than when it robs God of the Sabbath or a part of 
that day. There is no estimating the amount of crime 
prevented by men going up to church on the Lord's 
Day and coming in contact with the Word of God and 
influences of the other world. Moreover, a faithful 
observance of the Sabbath is necessary to the Christian 
to find this great blessing the prophet speaks of. A 
new covenant has to be made respecting its sacredness, 
and the things to be done and not done on that day. 

Third, we owe the body to the Lord. "I beseech you 
brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your 
bodies a living sacrifice unto God". Many have been 
afraid to do this, but he who does it does a wise thing. 
No one can take as good care of it as the Lord who 
made it. It is necessary for the obtainment of 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 163 

the blessing that every member of the body, tongue, 
eyes, ears, hands, feet and all shall be solemnly given 
and set apart for God. 

Fourth, we must give God the heart. "My son, 
give me thy heart." This means the soul, with all its 
powers, capacities and affections. Happy the man who 
will do this; he will never be sorry for having done so. 
He who made the soul can best manage it and keep it 
in order. The jeweler is the proper person to carry 
your watch to, he can do a better part by it than a 
blacksmith. So I am glad that in the list of what we 
are to bring to God, the soul is included. 

Fifth, I find still deeper requisition upon us in the 
Bible, in the words: u Whether therefore ye eat or drink, 
or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 
Truly this goes down deep and is all embracing. 
Whether we rise up or lie down, remain in the house 
or go abroad, eat, drink or sleep, we must do all to the 
glory of God ! 

Many Christians have fairly trembled before this 
verse. It breathes of a consecration so complete 
that they were not ready to make it. It actually 
looked at times like bondage — and yet to the man 
in the secret of the Lord it is perfect and glorious 
liberty. The demand may look like a towering stone 
and iron gate, but inside is a park with beautiful 
lakes, whispering groves, winding roads, flower lined 



164 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

paths and singing birds. Behind the flashing, cutting 
swords of the cherubim in this verse is a life and experi- 
ence as lovely, glorious and blessed as Paradise. 

Sixth, we descend still deeper in the Word of God 
to find that the consecration we have to make to obtain 
the great blessing Malachi speaks of is a perfect conse- 
cration. It must be so to obtain such a perfect blessing. 
The tithes due the Lord are found to be more than first 
dreamed of. All must be forsaken, everything must 
be hated in comparison with the Son of God. It is a 
hard saying with some, and so they fall away. But 
others press on, crying, "Lord, to whom shall we go, 
but unto Thee ?" and in the midst of the cry and pur- 
suit they find themselves in the seventh heaven. 

Listen while I read to you the sixth tithe: "He 
that loveth father or mother more than Me is not 
worthy of Me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more 
than Me is not worthy of Me, and he that taketh not 
his cross and followeth after Me is not worthy of Me." 

"If any man come to Me and hate not his father and 
mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, 
yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." 

"So, likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh 
not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." 

Suppose we look around and see who has paid this 
tithe. Who among your religious acquaintances has 
made such a complete consecration? 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 165 

This demand of Christ, as laid beside the Christian 
lives about me, used to puzzle me greatly. I did not 
see any one who hated father, mother and family in the 
Gospel sense, and who had forsaken all. I saw that 
they were undoubtedly Christians, but they evidently 
had not met this great requirement and paid their 
tithe. For years I could not understand; but after 
the reception of the blessing of sanctiflcation the light 
came. I saw at once that here was not the condition 
of salvation, but the price of the greater blessing of the 
Gospel, the one that Malachi is prophesying about. 

The condition of salvation is repentance and faith; 
not a word about the perfect consecration spoken of in 
the passages I quoted. What has a sinner to conse- 
crate? The Bible teaches that the worst sinner that 
lives shall be saved if he repents and believes. This is 
what millions have done, and find themselves in the 
church to-day, and in grace as well, but ignorant of that 
complete offering of the life which brings the uncon- 
tainable blessing called Purity, Perfect Love, the 
Abundant Life, the Indwelling Christ, Holiness and 
Entire Sanctiflcation. 

Again, I notice in this sixth tithe passage that Christ 
said if a man did not do it he was ' 'not worthy of Him. ' ' 
He did not say worthy of salvation, but "worthy of 
Me." There is a great difference. It was long be- 
fore I saw it; but I saw it at last, and the Bible 
became a new book. 



166 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

There is a difference between a gift and the giver. It 
is one thing for a woman to make and present to a man 
such things as dressing gowns, slippers, watch-pockets, 
etc., and another thing altogether to give herself to him 
as his wife. The last is greater than the first; and the 
man feels it. He has now not only the gifts, but the 
woman herself, who can make the gifts. 

So in the spiritual life. We obtain the gifts of sal- 
vation in regeneration ; but the Bible plainly teaches 
a mightier work and greater blessing when Christ him- 
self comes into the soul to abide perpetually. Speak- 
ing of it, He said: "We will come unto him and take 
up our abode w T ith him." What are the gifts of Christ 
beside Christ himself? Love, joy and peace seem to 
come and go in the converted life, but in the deeper 
experience of which I speak the Saviour stays in the 
heart all the time. It was to this that Christ alluded 
when He said unless w r e did certain things we were 
c 'not worthy of Him." 

So there is a profounder grace ; one that for sweetness 
and power transcends anything in the regenerated life. 
It is given in answer to a complete and eternal devote- 
ment of everything to God. There must be a consecra- 
tion that has not a single mental reservation. All must 
be laid on the altar, and the soul must cry, "0 Lord, 
I am wholly and forever thine." 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 167 

Before this perfect consecration held forth in the 
Word of God many Christians are trembling and 
shrinking to-day. They fear that the step will bank- 
rupt them. They make the remarkable mistake in 
thinking that they can outgive God ; that they can sur- 
sender more to the Lord than He is able to recom- 
pense them for. In a word, that they can do more 
for Him than He can do for them. 

The wonderful proposition of Heaven is that if we 
give ourselves to God, He will give Himself to us. 
What a marvellous proposition! What an amazing 
exchange ! And what a blessed experience it is bound 
to be when the exchange takes place ! 

I was never a good trader in my life, and remember 
some most unfortunate transactions that took place in 
my boyhood and manhood, all of which went to show 
a certain lacking business faculty ; but there was one 
trade I made eight years ago in which I got a most 
decided advantage. It was when I gave myself to 
Christ, and secured Him in even exchange. I can 
never think of it without smiling and exulting as well. 
Even now the thought of how I got rid of my poor, tired, 
nervous self, and obtained in blessed exchange the 
great soothing tranquilizing Christ, sends thrills of 
gladness and voices of praise all through my being. I 
certainly got the best of that business occurrence and 
the Lord knew it. 



108 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

I have noticed that many of God's people will not 
take this step of perfect consecration, this laying on 
the altar of everything, until a few hours or days before 
they die. Then it is that finding they must leave the 
world, they surrender first one thing and then another 
until all is given up. Father, mother, husband and 
children, land property and all are at last laid alto- 
gether and forever on the altar. 

Now there was a law in the worship and sacrifices of 
the Temple, that when a man brought his gift to the 
altar, the priest had always to put in an appearance and 
receive the offering. It is but a type or figure of what 
takes place in these Gospel days, for when an individ- 
ual lays himself and all on the altar, Christ, our priest, 
has to appear, and thank God does appear. He 
accepts the gift and the fire falls. 

Thus it is that when a christian delays this act of 
perfect consecration to the death hour; when only two 
or three days before passing away into the spirit world 
he brings all his tithes into the store-house, or lays his 
all on the altar, Christ in his faithfulness appears, 
receives the gift, the fire falls, and the dying Christian 
shouts, rejoices, preaches to all about his death-bed 
and goes off in a chariot of glory. 

Meanwhile members of the family marvel over the 
scene, wonder why "father." or " mother" had not 
been that way before, and conclude that this is the 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 169 

"dying grace" they have often heard about, when the 
fact is there is no such blessing as dying grace. The 
Bible has no word about such a blessing. The truth is 
that " father " or " mother " for the first time in their 
Chistian lives brought all the tithes into the store- 
house, or laid all their gifts on the altar. The 
instant they did so the Holy fire fell and they were 
sanctified. 

Just as true is it, that if this is done three years before 
you die, instead of three days, the same fire will fall. 
Yes, verily, if a man will put his all on the altar ten, 
twenty or forty years before death, the power of God 
will come down, Jesus will baptize the soul with the 
Holy Ghost and with fire, and the same blessing that 
made the dying christian happy will make the living 
child of God just as joyful all the days of his life. 

So much then for the exhortation of the text which 
covers the condition of the obtainment of the wonder- 
ful grace. I turn now to consider the second thought 
of the text, and that is 

2. THE PROMISE. 

This promise presents the blessing under several 
heads or points of description, which taken together 
show up the very work of divine grace, the discussion 
of which is agitating the church to-day. 

First, It is a heaven opening blessing. 



170 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Read the words, "I will open you the windows of 

heaven." To my mind this is a striking figure. A 
house with doors and windows all shut up is not a very 
attractive spectacle. It has a forbidding look. It seems 
to hold us off and say that we are not welcome. When 
I approach a dwelling to pay a visit, it is always 
an agreeable sight to see the hall door wide open, the 
windows upraised with lace curtains fluttering and 
mocking bird singing in its cage. The whole appear- 
ance is one of friendly greeting and welcome. 

Some of God's people know what it is to walk under 
the sky with a feeling that every door and window 
above is shut and barred. The upward thought is 
driven back, and the prayer finds no entrance or 
admission above. The heaven seems perfectly impene- 
trable, and lowers like a ceiling of iron or brass so that 
nothing in the shape of prayer or message gets through 
to God. Some listening to me know it has been weeks 
or months since your supplications found admission to 
the Throne. Just as the palm of my hand now resists 
all efforts of my finger to get through it, so something 
above you shuts out and keeps down your prayers. 
They cannot get through. The explanation is that the 
windows of heaven are closed. 

But the experience this text speaks of is one w T here 
every door and window of glory is opened above you, 
where the very sky is punctured with apertures ; and 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 171 

just as I spread the fingers of my hand wide open, 
and the fingers of the other can now shove through at 
any point, so can the thoughts, desires, whispers and 
petitions of your soul leap through space and fly at 
once unhindered into the immediate presence of God. 

Oh, what a luxury, joy and blessedness it is to feel 
there is no obstruction between the soul and God. 
To walk under a heaven filled with open windows, 
through which flows down upon your spirit the very 
influences that stir about the City of Gold and River 
of Life. When you can look up and feel there is noth- 
ing, not even a cloud the size of a man's hand, between 
you and God, and your every word of praise or prayer 
comes instantly into the ear and heart of the Saviour. 
Truly, if this was the only feature of the great bless- 
ing it would pay to get it. 

Second, mt It is a ponred-out blessing." 

The text says. "I will pour you out a blessing." 
This expression sounded so familiarly to me that I 
went back into the Old Testament to find it, and at last 
located it in the book of Joel, where he, in common 
with other prophets, in speaking of a great coming 
blessing to the church, said: "It shall come to pass 
afterward that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, 
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. ,J 

Taking up the Scriptures and coming forward to see 
when this promise took place, I find the first fulfill- 



172 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

ment in the Upper Room in Jerusalem on the Day of 
Pentecost. The Holy Ghost fell or was poured out 
upon one hundred and twenty waiting and praying dis- 
ciples of Jesus Christ. The instant it took place, Peter 
sprang to his feet and cried, "This is that which was 
spoken of by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to 
pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my 
Spirit upon all flesh." He then added that it was not 
simply for the disciples but "for you and your child- 
ren, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the 
Lord our God shall call." 

From that day this new blessing for the church began 
to descend upon those who sought it aright and paid the 
full price for it. So it fell upon the Samaritans, and 
upon Cornelius the Roman centurion, and upon the 
Ephesian disciples. During the Dark Ages it was 
scarcely known, but was sought and found by the 
Quakers under George Fox, and by the Moravians. 
Later still, under the preaching of Wesley and his 
lay workers, many obtained the glorious baptism, and 
the fire spread not only through England but over 
America. To-day there are few but have heard of it, 
and many are receiving it. 

When I heard of the blessing I never rested until 
it came upon me. For three days I was in an 
agony of prayer. Suddenly, on the morning of 
the third day, the blessing came. It was poured! 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 173 

It came down from above just as Joel and Peter said 
it would. Bishop Hamline said when he received it he 
felt it touch his head and then go down through him. 
It is always from above. I never heard of any one 
saying that it started in the feet and worked up. The 
feeling is that it comes down from above. It is too 
sweet and blessed to come from any other quarter. 

If you study the principle of a show T er bath, you will 
notice that when a man pulls the cord attached to the 
lever above his head he will instantly receive a Niagara 
like dash of water upon him. So let a man pull on the 
rope of a perfect consecration, and he will get a blessing 
that he will talk about all the rest of his life. 

I have been informed that in the far-away West they 
have a curious way of watering their stock. There is 
a platform ten feet square, with a large trough upon it 
to hold the water. As water is scarce in that region, 
and the dry winds evaporate the precious fluid 
rapidly, the platform is so arranged w T ith some simple 
machinery and a trigger that no water gets into the 
trough until the ox stands on the platform. If the ani- 
mal puts two feet, or just half his weight, on the planks, 
the w T ater does not come. It takes the whole ox, head, 
horns, hide, hoofs and all, to get that water. The 
instant the animal, with his entire weight, is on the 
platform, the trigger moves, and gush! — here comes 



174 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

the water into the trough shining, sparkling and in 
greatest abundance for him. 

God has a platform called Perfect Consecration. It 
stands marvellously connected with the great blessing 
He has for the soul of the believer. It has some kind 
of spiritual machinery above it that can tell the exact 
physical and moral weight of the man desiring the 
down-pour of the out-poured blessing. It requires the 
whole weight of the man to get the blessing. If a man 
registers one hundred and fifty pounds, it is no use for 
him to palm off one hundred and forty-nine on God. 
He knows every pennyweight of the life. He is going 
to give all, and demands all. It is vain to try to 
deceive Him. We cannot deceive the weighing scales 
on street corners and in waiting rooms. The arrrow 
will not point out your weight until you drop your coin 
in the slot. The Platform of Consecration seems to 
have no thought, intelligence, design, life or motion 
about it so long as the man fails to place the whole of 
himself and life upon it. God seems to be far away 
and oblivious of what is going on. The heavens look 
empty. The sky is without answering voice or waving 
hand. The spiritual slot machine does not record; 
there is no sparkling, overflowing water in the trough 
of life. 

And yet, in spite of these things, what faithful ma- 
chinery is in and under that platform ! How the arrow 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 175 

points when the price is paid! How delicate, and yet 
how true and powerful that spring in the moral ma- 
chinery of His great grace, that the instant it is touched 
a cataract of glory descends into the soul ! 

So it has ever proved, so it will always prove, the 
moment the whole man is on the platform of a perfect 
abandonment and consecration to God, the trigger is 
touched, the telegram flashes to the skies ''all is 
on" — and lo ! here comes the rushing, sweeping, glad- 
dening, overpowering and yet empowering "poured- 
out" blessing that Jesus gives, that Joel talked about, 
and that Peter and the other desciples receiving 
stirred all Jerusalem with and afterward the whole 
world. 

Brethren have you had the poured-out blessing? If 
not, then shove your gift through the slot, pull on the 
rope, get on the platform and never rest until the 
Son of God baptizes you with the Holy Ghost and with 
fire, which is the blessing I speak of. 

Third, It is a full blessi?ig. 

This is taught in the words : u There shall not be 
room enough to receive it." Of course if there is not 
room in the heart to receive it, then it is a full blessing, 
and this is the. very blessing we all want and need. 

I notice that the soul is so constituted that it craves 
a full blessing. What it gets at regeneration does not 
satisfy it. I never knew a genuinely converted man in 



176 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

my life who was really growing in grace but desired 
something more than he possessed. He wants a "ful- 
ness," and so he prays to be "filled." 

This very condition of spirit to my mind is a proof 
of the blessing. It is the logic of Heaven in the soul. 
It pleads from the premises of a conscious emptiness 
and yearning for fullness, to the irresistible conclusion 
of such a filling. The craving declares the blessing. 
Just as thirst proves the existence of water, and hunger 
declares the fact of bread, so the longing for fulness 
shows there is a filling blessing. Somehow I do not 
dread the denials and attacks of the skeptical upon the 
doctrine so long as I find these mighty instincts and 
appetites in the soul reaching out for the blessing itself. 
. The inward instinct will outweigh in the long run the 
sneer of the scoffer and opposer. 

I have also observed that in the Bible there is fre- 
quent reference to a blessing of fulness. Paul writes 
about it to a certain church, telling them that when he 
visited them again he was going to come in "the fulness 
of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ " So there is a 
blessing of the Gospel of Christ, and a fulness of the 
blessing. The first time he came he brought the good 
news of pardon and salvation, but when he came again 
he proposed coming in the fullness of the blessing of 
the Gospel of Christ. 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 177 

There is a command in the Bible bidding us "Be 
filled with the Spirit, 1 ' as clearly as sinners are told to 
" Repent. " God never tells a sinner to be filled with 
the Spirit; he is commanded to repent and thereby 
obtain the first measure of the Spirit. It is the believer 
who is urged to be filled. 

It was for this purpose that the disciples tarried in 
the Upper Room ten days. Not to get pardon, or even 
obtain the Spirit, for He had been breathed upon 
them days before by the Saviour, and Christ Himself 
had said : "He (the Spirit) dwelleth with you. ' ' They 
spent the ten days in prayer and waiting for the Jilli?ig 
of the Spirit; and so we read that on the Day of Pente- 
cost while they were all with one accord together in one 
place, suddenly the Spirit fell upon them, and "they 
were all filled with the Holy Ghost." 

So the instincts and yearnings of the soul find a 
spiritual correlative in the Bible. The want is recog- 
nized and the supply is provided. The command "Be 
filled" is in exact harmony with the desire of the soul 
to be filled. 

With these two great facts before me of the soul's 
yearning and the Bible teaching, I can never dread the 
antagonistic writings of men in the church who try to 
explain away the Great Blessing or deny it altogether. 
The heaven inspired hunger for heart purity, and the 
declarations and commands of the Word of God will be 



178 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

more than a match for all opposers of this experience, 
whether they be laymen or preachers, learned or un- 
learned, prominent or obscure, powerful, more power- 
ful or most powerful. 

There is a blessing that fills the soul. Every room, 
hall and closet of ones being is filled with love, joy and 
glory. Malachi talked about it in his time, Peter in his 
day, Wesley in his age, and please God we who have 
it will testify to it in the evening of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. 

Fourth, // is an Uncontainable Blessing, 

This appears in the words, " There shall not be room 
enough to receive it." Truly, then, if there is no room 
for the blessing, it must be an uncontainable one. 

This is the very kind of blessing the Church wants. 
She has many blessings already; we do not deny it, 
and thank God for it. But the trouble is they are all 
containable. God's people have love, but they have no 
difficulty in controlling it. They have joy, but it is 
easily kept under. They have the missionary spirit and 
the benevolent spirit, but all are easily managed, kept 
in and kept down. At this rate it is easy to see the 
heathen will never be converted and the world won for 
God. What is needed is an uncontainable blessing that 
will sweep us down upon human want, misery, 
ignorance and sin, and capture and change the whole 
world for Christ. We do not want a force and energy 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 179 

that we must create and stir up, but we want a heav- 
enly power that will come down upon us like a cyclone 
and sweep us along with it as the storm whirls the 
leaves in its mighty course. 

I am heartily sick of seeing the church "mark time,'' 1 
as on dress parade. I want to see an advance move- 
ment so solid, impetuous and overwhelming that sin- 
ners will surrender everywhere, wickedness slink into 
its hiding holes, devils fear and fly and all hell stand 
in utter dismay. 

I am tired of beholding the horses and chariot of 
Ziuii trotting all day in the shade of one tree — an ap- 
pearance of going, and yet, in reality staying. I 
am tired oi seeing devils roosting on the axletrees, 
and some even on the seat manipulating the reins. I 
want such a galvanic battery shock of divine glory to 
come upon us, that every wrong thing will be knocked 
off the chariot, and such a hurricane rush of joy and zeal 
and fire and heavenly power fall upon and sweep us on- 
ward that plotting devils and hating men will be left 
astonished in a cloud of dust far behind, while we are 
disappearing in the glorious light of the Millennium. 

The disciples had this uncontainable blessing, and 
from the instant it came upon them nothing could stop 
them, neither men nor devils, kings, armies, stakes, 
dungeons, wild beasts, seas, mountains or deserts; on 
they flew, running for God, telling the good news of 



180 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

salvation, warning of the wrath to come, begging men 
to be saved, until, still running, they struck their foot 
against their tombstone and fell flat in the grave, broke 
the bottom out of that and woke up in glory. They 
had the uncontainable blessing. 

The Wesleyan movement had it, and the combined 
force of church authority, mob violence and public ridi- 
cule could do nothing before the unlearned but fire- 
baptized lay preachers of John Wesley. So long as 
the Methodist Church retained this blessing its 
advance was like the tread and sweep of a victorious 
army. 

Moreover, we have got to have this blessing if we are 
ever to take the world for Christ. We can never win 
the day with an experience which we have to coddle and 
manage, but we must have a steady, permanent bless- 
ing that will manage us — something like steam in an 
engine, or, better still, like the force behind the world. 

When this blessing does descend on a church or con- 
gregation here or there, there is immediately such a 
stir and commotion that a timid, unthinking, conser- 
vative element in the church becomes alarmed and 
thinks everything is going to pieces, when only sin, 
worldliness and formality are going to pieces. There 
was a great deal of agitation in the apostolic church, 
and stormy times in the Wesleyan revival, but God 
was in both movements. The church had something 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 181 

that would not bend, truckle and go down before earth 
and hell. It had the uncontainable blessing, rode 
every w T ave, ran through every troop and leaped over 
every wall. Lord give it back to us. 

To the timid, fearful wing in the church, let me 
say that God will never never send a steed of fire to 
be placed in the shafts of His chariot that w T ould 
break it to pieces. In other words, God will never send 
a blessing that will rupture His church. It may offend 
and cast out some people who claim to be His church ; 
but God's real church is called the body of Christ and 
that will never be hurt by the Baptism of Fire or the 
Uncontainable Blessing. 

Fifth, // is a rttnning over arid flowing forth blessing. 

Again we read the w T ords, "There shall not be room 
enough to receive it." The picture suggested to the 
mind is evident. The overflowing fountain, murmur- 
ing on its benevolent w r ay, can readily be seen in the 
words. 

I have seen fountains in our city squares playing 
into a large marble or iron basin that would hold a 
hogshead of water. I noticed that when the basin was 
full, the fountain did not cease to flow, but kept pour- 
ing in, and there w r as nothing for the basin to do but to 
overflow 7 , while the water streamed forth and carried 
overground or underground in troughs or pipes went to 
distant places, nourishing the roots of trees and grasses, 



182 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

slaking the thirst of cattle and thousands of birds, and 
so becoming a blessing to vegetable and animal life. 

In like manner when a man receives the blessing I 
am talking about to-day, he is first filled, but as God 
keeps pouring in more and more of His grace and 
Spirit, there is nothing for the man to do but overflow. 
He like the city fountain runs over and flows out. He 
in a manner radiates. He cannot keep in what he has. 
It is driven forth by other measures of grace flowing 
into him. So he becomes not only a daily but a con- 
stant benediction. Filled and overflowing with good, 
he leaves a blessing wherever he goes. It is a book here, 
a paper yonder, a hand-shake there, a pleasant smile 
and word in another place, a flower to the invalid, or 
prayers by the side of the sick and aged. The very 
grasp of his hand does good, his smile is contagious, 
the spiritual brightness in his face clears the atmos- 
phere of home and social circle, and the firm ring of 
his voice and kindly look in his eyes is like a tonic to 
drooping faith and an inspiration to christian life and 
performance. 

Now multiply this man by five hundred, in other 
words a congregation. Think of a whole church filled 
with such a blessing, and tell me whether it will be a 
benediction to a town and city or not. Filled and over- 
flowing they will flow forth in a thousand acts of benevo- 
lent and spiritual work. Relief for the human body 



THE TNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 183 

and salvation for the human soul will be in their creed. 
What missions will be started, what prayer meetings 
and Sunday schools organized, what jails and hospitals 
visited, and what good of every kind for mind, body 
and soul w T ill be done willingly and rejoicingly. 

God gave me a church where I had several hundred 
members in the possession of this blessing. The result 
was that the congregation literally flowed out on the city 
in deeds of mercy and salvation. The naked were 
clothed, the poor were fed, strangers were visited, pris- 
oners in the jail were looked after, while the cottage 
prayer meetings in the houses, Gospel meetings on the 
streets, and salvation power all the time at the church, 
made Hell to stand astonished and grieved, while 
angels camped around about and God kept sending 
down the Holy Spirit upon us in holy love and ap- 
proval. Do you see why the Devil does not want the 
church to obtain this blessing? 

In a meeting in a Southern State an old lady of 
about seventy-five years of age obtained this blessing 
and at once undertook a missionary expedition up one 
aisle and down another. In less than ten minutes she 
had shaken hands with over sixty people and left a 
track of emotion behind her like a steamboat leaves a 
wake of bubbles as it goes down the stream. The old 
lady shook hands right and left, and as she did so, 
said: "God bless you," while her face fairly shone 



184 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

with holy light and love. The warm hand-shake, the 
God bless you, backed up with the shining face, was 
more than the people could stand, and I saw numbers 
of men wiping the tears from their eyes. As I looked 
on the scene I said if the church had what this old 
lady has, it would go out at once on missionary expe- 
ditions in every direction, shake hands in a few months 
with Europe, Asia, Africa and America, stir them all 
up with hearty God bless yous and shining counte- 
nances, and have the nations at the feet of Jesus in a 
little while. 

In a California town two girls in the Presbyterian 
Church were sanctified in a Methodist Mission. The 
instant they got the uncontainable blessing they began 
to run over and flow forth. Satisfied with formal 
church attendance and some perfunctory Sabbath- 
school work up to that time, now they overflowed the 
regular banks and backed up to the hills. In a word, 
they could not keep still and see men going down by 
scores from their town into hell. So they rented a 
hall, filled it with chairs, procured an organ and opened 
a meeting. Neither of them knew how to preach, but 
they could sing, and give their experience and cry 
some, and pray and exhort a little. In a few days a 
gracious revival broke out and scores of sinners were 
saved. At once they were summoned for trial before 
their church, the charges against them being "Irregu- 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 185 

larity." This was quite true. They were very differ- 
ent from what they had been before. A mechanical, 
perfunctory Christian life no longer satisfied them; 
they w T ere burning up with love for souls and were try- 
ing to keep men and women out of perdition. They 
were doing what their fellow church members were 
not doing, namely, saving souls; and so they both 
looked and were exceedingly " irregular. " For- 
tunately for the girls, the Moderator of the church 
court or assembly was both a religious and sensible 
man. As he propounded numerous questions to the 
young women as to how and when and where and why 
they did these things, light streamed into his mind, 
and he secured their acquittal. His final remark to the 
assembly was noteworthy. He said, ls From all I can 
see these girls have received the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost, and it would be a good thing if we all had it." 

Amen ! Lord send upon the church the uncontain- 
able, running over and running out, blessing. 

Sixth. // is the blessing that Jills the church with 
food for a spiritually starving a?id perishing world 
Listen to the text, "That there may be meat in mine 
house." This is the Lord talking. He is telling His 
people how the starvation and death of the nations can 
be prevented. If they will bring up the tithes, the 
material substance and spiritual services, the affections 
and energies, the love and devotion, the body, mind 



186 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

and soul, and consecrate all to God — then His store- 
house will be full, and all that a miserable, needy, sor- 
row-stricken, sin-stained and despairing world wants 
will be found in the church of God. 

The church in this figure is held up in the light of a 
great receptacle and dispensing place, where every- 
thing needed by poor, heart-broken humanity can be 
found, from material aid up to spiritual light, comfort 
and salvation. If God's people will do what Malachi 
exhorts to here, and God's answering blessing comes 
down, everything will be found in the church that 
is needed and that should be there — the cordial wel- 
come, the hearty hand shake, the practical help, the 
burning love for souls, the unctuous prayer, the melt- 
ing hymn, the earnest exhortation, the sermon filled 
with spiritual food and salvation flowing about the 
church altars at every service. 

This is God's plan, thus to fill His church with 
devoted, fire-baptized, soul-loving men and women as 
so many servants and waiters; then to line the rafters 
and load the shelves with all kinds of spiritual food ; 
and after that literally bombard the church with crowds 
of sinners and back-sliders, people undone in reputa- 
tion and character, lives gone down under appetite, 
pride and passion, hearts broken and despairing 
through sin and sorrow; and have them not only met 
and welcomed, but loved, cheered, helped, lifted up 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 187 

and saved as fast as they come. This is God's plan, 
and this why He urges the uncontainable blessing on 
His people; because that through its marvellous 
power this very thing will be done. But God's people 
are slow to see the heavenly design, and, neglecting the 
conditions by which the wonderful work is to be 
brought about, the church is not the spiritual feed- 
ing-place, nor the Pow r er House that it should be. 
Some of us have seen congregations stream out of 
handsome-looking cathedrals as w 7 ell as plain-looking 
houses of worship, and the people did not look like 
they had been fed. There seemed to have been no 
meat in God's house that day. 

Any one can see how this hurts Christ even more 
than the church. The unsatisfied soul of the man of 
the world reasons thus: "I heard this was the church 
of God; that it was a supernatural institution; that it 
had supernatural influence; that the soul was fed and 
men were made to feel the presence and power of the 
other world. But I have not so found it. It is just 
like any other gathering to me. What they called the 
sermon was like a speech or lecture, and I came out as 
I went in, nowise helped or made better." It is a dis- 
tressing thought that this is not only the reasoning 
but the experience of many w r ho go into some of our 
churches. People who may have gone in for help and 
light, left confirmed in doubt and skepticism. 



188 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

When- 1 was a boy I read somewhere that three peo- 
ple went to church one night each in peculiar trouble 
and hoping that help or deliverance would come to 
them in some way. One was a man in great agony of 
mind contemplating suicide, another was a woman who 
from poverty was meditating flinging herself into a 
life of shame, a third was a boy who owed a debt 
and not being able to pay it was being tempted to 
break into the cash drawer of his employer and take 
what he needed. It was a critical hour for these 
three souls and they had come up to the house of God 
with a vague hope of being helped or delivered in some 
w r ay. What a time it would have been for the choir to 
have sung Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide my- 
self in thee. But no it was a paid choir and they 
hemi-demi-semi-quavered and ran the rattlesnake-note 
for half an hour, and brought down no sweetness or 
unction upon the soul. It was a good time for a 
prayer which would have lifted a despairing soul up to 
see the Fatherhood of God and His delivering care, but 
instead the preacher for ten minutes gave the Lord a 
great deal of information about what was going on in 
the world; in fact it was no prayer. Then what an 
opportunity for the man of God to have selected a text 
about God being with us in the " seventh trouble, '' 
about Jesus not letting us be tempted above that we 
are able to bear, etc., etc. But instead the preacher 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 189 

took some curious passage in the Old Testament and 
for three quarters of an hour talked about The Third 
Geological Epoch of the World's History. He fed the 
people on rocks for nearly an hour. I remember the 
paragraph read that after the sermon the man went out 
and leaping over the river bridge committed suicide, 
the woman flung herself into a life of shame, and the 
boy went home to rob his master, and in the act of 
breaking open the drawer was detected and sent to a 
House of Correction. 

The little story made a great impression on me, and 
when I became a preacher it came back to me and I 
cried to God and asked Him please to grant that in all 
my ministry I would never fail to help every broken 
heart or troubled soul He might send to me for light, 
assistance or deliverance. If the pulpit and church 
does not do that kind of work, of what use are they to 
God. 

Some years ago, before I received this blessing of 
which I am speaking to you, I lost a little boy of eight 
years of age, named Guy. He was such a deeply 
spiritual lad, such a John-like, Christ-like boy that I 
have perpetuated his memory in a chapter of one of 
my books called Pastoral Sketches. He died a very 
horrible death of lock-jaw, and while he was strug- 
gling in the peculiar and awful convulsions of the 
disease for ten days, it seemed that I died a thousand 



190 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

times while sitting or kneeling as a lonely watcher 
by his bedside. 

The morning he died the sun seemed to go down, 
and the whole world seemed black and empty to me. 
I did not have the Great Blessing at that time, so that 
life became a burden to me. I fancied I could hear 
his voice from the street where other little boys w T ere 
playing. One of the last times in life I saw him in the 
days of health, he was swinging on a wind waved 
branch of a tree and cried out to me as he saw me 
leave the gate "Good-bye Papn." I could hear that 
same loving call now wherever I went, "Good-bye 
Papa." In the pulpit, when I arose to preach, his 
sweet little face would arise before me and I could 
scarcely proceed. When I came into my house from 
my pastoral work about the city and would come 
across the cap he once wore, the kite he flew, or some 
plaything his precious hand had made sacred, an 
agony pierced my heart like a minnie ball, and once or 
twice I fell as though I was shot through and 
through by a missile of death. 

In the midst of this darkness and sorrow came a 
telegram from my brother a physician, in New York 
City, asking me to come on to see him. He had heard 
of my sorrow. Most kindly and tenderly he tried to 
divert my mind by taking me to different places. One 
trip was up the Hudson River to the Catskill Moun- 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 191 

tains. But everywhere I saw the sweet boyish face, 
now hidden under the sod of the hills of Vicksburg, 
and the burden seemed to grow heavier. On Satur- 
day we returned to New York City, and I picked 
up the paper to see what the preachers were go- 
ing to preach about next day that I might know 
where to go. I wish I could recall the topics that for 
a column and a half literally sickened my eyes and 
heart. There were political subjects, scientific topics, 
literary treatises. It was amazing to see how the 
Gospel had been skipped and Jesus left out. So as 
I read on I kept saying: "No — No No — I don't want 
that — or that— or that.'' Some subjects were upon 
startling occurrences that had recently taken place. 
Some preachers proposed to answer certain Questions 
of the Day, and still my heart said : "No, I don't want 
questions of the day answered, I am already sick of 
them. There are heart questions, and providential 
problems and mysteries about the other world that I 
want solved. Lord I want this burden to be taken 
away, I want peace and rest." So my eye kept glan- 
cing down the column until at last I read these words : 
"On to-morrow at the Washington Square Methodist 
Church, the Rev. J. R. T — - will preach at 11 a. m. 
and 7:30 p. m. His morning subject will be "Soul 
Rest." At once my heart cried out: "Yes Lord, that 
is what I want, soul rest." 



192 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

On the next morning I sat in the center of the church 
and gave most faithful attention to the preacher. He 
appeared to be about forty years of age. There were 
lines in his face that showed he had known great suf- 
fering, but there was a light among the lines which 
revealed he had come through victoriously. His 
manner was impressive, his voice tender and solemn. 
He took for his text the words of David, "Keturn 
unto thy rest my soul." For forty-five minutes he 
opened up the verse and from it poured a stream of 
inspired thought that was like heavenly oil to the 
wounded heart. Jesus was held up and brought near. 
Jesus our best friend, Jesus the lover of our souls, 
Jesus with us in the storm and in the dark, Jesus 
making everything work together for our good, Jesus 
explaining to us in Heaven some of the dark, inscru- 
table things that took place on earth. I saw my soul 
like a poor storm-tossed bird far out over the deep, and 
I could see Jesus stretching out his arms for it. I 
could see it beating its tired way back to Him, feel His 
hand taking in the wearied flutterer and placing it in 
His bosom. I never wept so much under a sermon in 
my life before. The tears came not in drops, but 
flowed in streams, while the preacher with heaven 
directed hand poured the oil upon the spirit. 

When the service was over I walked forward to the 
altar and took him by the hand and with a broken 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 193 

voice told him he would never know in this life 
how much good he had done a heart-broken preacher 
of the Gospel. As I walked out on the street I begged 
God to grant that whenever I stood up to preach I 
would thus bless and bind up the broken hearts He 
would send to my church. Even then I began to see 
what the mission of the church was, and if we are not 
encouraging the discouraged, uplifting the fallen and 
saving the lost, we are of no earthly use to God. 

I held a meeting in a large Northern city two winters 
ago ; and this occurrence took place a couple of weeks 
before my arrival. A young woman was engaged to be 
married when her betrothed suddenly died. A strange 
desperate feeling came over her and in that reckless 
spirit she entered upon a life of sin and shame. At 
once remorse set in, and feeling that life was unbear- 
able she determined one night to drown herself in the 
river that flowed through the city. On the way to the 
bridge from which she intended casting herself, she 
passed the church where I aftenvards held my meeting. 
It was lighted up and the sound of singing came 
out upon the night air. She concluded to go in and 
hear one hymn before she took her life. She entered 
and sat in the last seat. The people were all rilled 
with the Spirit, it was a Holiness Church, and one 
sweet hymn followed another. She had heard four 
hymns w T hen the speaker of the evening arose suddenly 



194 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

and said, "I will speak a few minutes on the words of 
Jesus — 'Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden and I will give you rest.' " 

Then followed an earnest, tender, unctious talk of 
fifteen minutes, when he concluded by saying, "If any 
sin sick soul, or any burdened heart would like to come 
to Jesus to-night, let them draw near at once to this 
altar that we may pray for them." At once the girl 
rushed forward, fell at the altar, and in less than ten 
minutes was soundly saved. Several weeks later I 
opened my meeting in this church of which she was 
now a member. When she heard of the deeper ex- 
perience of sanctification, the greater blessing I have 
been talking about, she at once sought it, and in 
a few days found it. . Several times after that I heard 
her testify, and as I looked at her transfigured face, 
the perfectly angelic expression upon it, and thought 
that only a few weeks before she was on her way 
to the river to drown herself, I blessed God for a 
church that had the power to stop her mad career 
and turn her steps from an endless hell to an everlast- 
ing Heaven. And I saw once again why God wants 
to fill His church everywhere with a blessing that will 
make it a soul saving institution, cheating hell out of a 
weeping and wailing population, and crowding the 
the streets of Heaven with a multitude that cannot be 
numbered, plucked from the walks and ways of sin 



THE UNCONTAINABLE BLESSING. 195 

everywhere, and now white-robed and shining-faced to 
glorify God in the skies fcrever. 

Why is it that God's people are so uneasy and sus- 
picious about this blessing. It is not an enemy to the 
church, but the friend. It is not to strip and rend, 
but to fill it up with redeemed people and bind all its 
interests together. It has not come to assail the church, 
but to show her the way of capturing the world for 
Christ. It is not to be a burden and affliction, but is 
the very "Power" which Christ promised should come 
down, and which on coming down makes one man to 
chase a thousand, two to put ten thousand to flight, 
makes the church in a word victorious and irresistible 
at every point and place, while to the eyes of the world 
it looks "Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and ter- 
rible as an army with banners." 

Lord send down upon us and into us the Uncon- 
tainable Blessing. 



VIII. 

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I 
pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved 
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. " — 1 Thes- 
salonians, 5:23. 

THE word regenerate means to ' 'beget, " "renew" 
and "renovate." It is, in the scriptural sense, 
to be born again, or born of God. The word 
sanctify, which is the prominent one in the text, means 
to "make pure," "make holy" and "set apart." You 
see at once that the words regenerate and sanctify are 
not synonyms, and that the latter is much stronger 
than the former. It is also very noticeable that Paul 
was not speaking of the first, but of the last, and 
was evidently deeply concerned that the Thessalonians 
might come into an experience which he calls being 
wholly sanctified. 

This grace must undoubtedly be very important, as 
we find certain impressive facts and statements made 
relative to it in the Word of God. One is that Christ 
prayed for our sanctification. This appears in the 
seventeenth chapter of John; for, after supplicating 
thus for the disciples, the Saviour adds, "Neither pray 

196 



ENTIRE ^NOTIFICATION. 197 

I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe 
on Me through their word." It is through their word 
that the Gospel has been sent down to us. 

Again, Christ died for our sanctification. Many peo- 
ple do not seem to know this. They have looked on 
the death of Christ as a means of escape, from hell, 
when the Scripture distinctly declares that u He suf- 
fered outside the gate that He might sanctify the 
people. ' ' Remember that sanctify does not mean regen- 
erate. 

Still again, Christ's work is to that end. He has a 
work. Paul declares it in Ephesians, where he says 
that Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it 
that He might sanctify it. The Revised Version here 
will make you open your eyes, for it says "that He 
might sanctify it, having cleansed it with the washing 
of the water of the Word." Here are the two works of 
grace side by side. 

Still further, I notice that God w r ills our sanctifica- 
tion. Having once read that, how can a Christian ever 
be satisfied and settle down in any state of grace that is 
less and falls short of what is in the plain word? It 
seems to me that condemnation is bound to overtake 
one who refuses to walk in increasing light and will not 
possess that which God w T ants him to have. 

I once read of a man who claimed to be God's friend 
and follower, and yet w T as neglectful of certain Divine 



198 KEVIVAL SERMONS. 

commandments. One evening on coming into his wife's 
room he saw her open Bible lying on her work-table. 
She had been reading it on her knees, and hearing him 
had hastily retired to hide the emotion that was upper- 
most in her heart as she thought of his course. The 
man glanced at the Bible and saw a single tear that had 
dropped from her eyes upon the page. It was resting 
on this verse in John's first epistle and second chapter : 
"He that saith I know Him and keepeth not His com- 
mandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him. " The 
tear and the verse together went like an arrow to his 
heart and did the work that aroused and saved him. 
It would be well for some to-day who hear me if they 
could see the tears of angels on the verse, "This is the 
will of God, even your sanctification," and ask them- 
selves how they must appear to God, and the world 
itself, when saying they love God, and yet heeding 
not w r hat is the declared will of God, and neglecting 
or refusing to obtain that for which Christ prayed 
and worked, and even died that they might have. 

The text I have selected is full of information con- 
cerning this great work of grace. And it is remarkable 
that the very facts it brings out are the very points that 
are so objectionable and irritating to a large class of 
people in the church to-day. Drop these features and 
they will join hands with us and agree on the doctrine 
of sanctification. But to discard these same points is 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 199 

to rob it of its distinctiveness, confound it with growth 
in grace, make it a mere elongation of regeneration, 
and thereby strip the blessing of its real spirit essence 
and peculiar glory. Let us see what this verse teaches: 

1. SANCTIFICATION IS A DIVINE WORK. 

This is the direct statement of the text: "The very 
God of peace sanctify you wholly. " How can the most 
expert reasoner escape from this unmistakable declara- 
tion that God sanctifies. 

I have noticed that there is a disposition in the world 
to deny every work of God. Herein is seen not only 
the unbelief of men, but the same spirit that swept 
Christ from the earth. To deny God's works is to get 
rid of God. And we have only to open our eyes and 
ears to see that every work of God is denied, not by the 
same class of people, but by different bodies; and the 
summing up of all these various negations amounts to 
the total rejection of God. 

I find that the Bible attributes, among others, live 
general works to God, viz., creation, resurrection, regen- 
eration, witness of the Spirit and sanctification. Is it not 
remarkable that every one of these are disputed and 
denied by men? Scientists would displace creation as 
an act of God, by evolution — a mere blind and unin- 
telligent process. A large class of religious people deny 
the resurrection. Here two Divine works are swept 



200 REVIVAL BERMONS, 

away. A third body laugh at experimental religion, 
and substitute church membership for regeneration. 
Three works gone. A fourth class insists that there is 
and can be no direct testimony of the Spirit of God to 
our salvation; that we can only arrive at such a con- 
clusion by a system of deductions, and these deduc- 
tions are drawn from an observation of certain changes 
in our lives. The fourth work is gone. A fifth party 
deride the idea of sanctification being a distinct work 
of grace in the soul, and confound the word with 
maturity and growth in grace. I have often wondered 
if the people who do this, and oftentime they are 
Christians, are aware that they are in ghastly union 
with an unbelieving world in robbing God of His glory. 
For so it comes to pass, by open enemies and avowed 
friends, that every work of God is denied and swept 
away. Only review the list, creation, resurrection, 
regeneration, witness of the Spirit and sanctification, 
and behold every one is jeered at, doubted and denied. 
How do you like your fellowship, my brother, as you 
find yourself in league to defraud the Almighty of His 
honor? 

Thank God the Bible is clear in these matters, and 
the same Book which says that God created the heav- 
ens and the earth declares that God sanctifies the soul 
wholly. It is vain for persons to try to escape this 
direct statement by saying that the Scripture tells us to 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 201 

'•sanctify the Lord God in our heart." This is true; 
we are to have high, holy, elevated thoughts of God, 
and this it is to sanctify Him in our hearts; and until 
we do this He will never sanctify our souls ; but still 
the verse remains unmoved — "The very God of peace 
sanctify you wholly." 

It is also vain to say that the Bible tells us to sanc- 
tify ourselves; that this was the command to the chil- 
dren of Israel, "Sanctify yourselves." This is also 
true. We have never denied that there is a double 
cleansing or sanctification, one human and the other 
divine. The human must always precede the divine. 
A man must cleanse or sanctify himself before God will 
ever sanctify him wholly. We are to "cleanse our- 
selves from all filthiness" in order to "perfect holi- 
ness." So the text stands like a mighty unconquered 
fort after all this shelling and cross-firing — it is the 
God of peace who sanctifies us wholly. 

2. SANCTIFICATION IS A SECOND WORK. 

Here comes fresh trouble to many. If we would only 
say that sanctification is a ripening of the Christian 
graces, a further development of the Christian life, then 
ail would be well with Jacob and the camp of Israel 
would remain peaceful and contented. But to call it 
a second work, a work subsequent to and different from 



202 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

regeneration, here is where the excitement is again 
aroused. 

I have often wondered at the irritability manifested 
by good people toward the teaching of a second w r ork 
of grace. One would suppose that the first had not 
been so delightful that they desired another. Whereas 
in my ow r n case the first blessing w r as so sweet that I 
always wanted God to touch me again. Now when in 
addition to this it is demonstrated both by the heart 
and the Bible that there is need for a second work, then 
it certainly seems that every child of God would pant 
to receive that work. This being the case, the antag- 
onism felt and expressed toward this subsequent grace 
is quite remarkable. But antagonism or not, the fact 
remains that such a w r ork is for us. 

Moreover, every view taken or theory enunciated of 
the blessing of entire sanctification makes it a second 
work. For instance, if purity comes in Purgatory, 
there the second work is seen; if at death, the fact of 
subsequency is clear then. If it comes as a result of 
growth or development, still it is a second blessing. 
Even the Zinzendorfian teaching, which locates it at 
conversion, will, if examined, reveal the dual grace. 
The w r ords "I got it at conversion" are most significant. 
Do you not see that "it" and "conversion" are differ- 
ent words, and that the man says that when he was 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 203 

regenerated he got something else different from regen- 
erated — that he "got it when he was converted." 

When you come to the true theory as taught in the 
Bible and Methodist theology, sanctification is plainly 
upheld as a second work. 

The first proof is seen remarkably in the epistle 
from which the text is taken. Let any one of you read 
the first chapter of first Thessalonians and note what 
Paul says about their religious condition, their faith, 
their joy in the Holy Ghost, their being an example 
to believers, etc., and then turn to the text and hear 
him pray that God would sanctify them wholly to see 
a second work taught, as clearly as words can make it. 

A second proof is in the term "God of peace. " Who 
is the God of peace? Romans, fifth chapter and first 
verse, will answer that, "Being justified by faith we 
have peace with God." God is not a God of peace to a 
sinner, but to a justified man. Now then, says Paul, 
may the God of peace, your justifying God, sanctify 
you wholly. 

A third proof is seen in the word "sanctify." This, 
as previously said, means to "make pure, make holy 
and to set apart." Regeneration means to "beget, 
reproduce, born again," etc. But common sense tells 
us that the creature must be born before it can be "set 
apart." So the word sanctify itself contains the evi- 
dence of a second work. 



204 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

A fourth proof is found in many Bible passages which 
my time to-day will not allow me even to quote, much 
less expound. 

A fifth proof is in human witnesses. They are to-day 
found all over the land, and are springing up by thou- 
sands and tens of thousands. I meet them wherever I 
go. No matter in what country or city I find them 
they agree marvellously on these very points which 
awaken such a stir of resentment, that the work is 
Divine and that it is wrought subsequent to regenera- 
tion! 

It is true there are many people in the church who 
deny the reality of such a blessing, saying, among other 
things, that they never had it. But what does this 
prove? Simply that they themselves have not the 
blessing. Can w 7 hat they say have weight ? Are 
they true witnesses when we come to look at the mat- 
ter? A witness in the court is a man who testifies to 
what he knows, not to what he does not know. Sup- 
pose a boy should declare that he saw one man murder 
another, and a hundred men should swear that it did 
not occur because they did not see it, do we not all 
know that the testimony of the lad would outweigh the 
statements of the one hundred men. He was present, 
saw and knew of the transaction, while they w T ere not 
ther,, and so could not properly testify. In this in- 
stance one positive declaration of fact outweighs a 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 205 

thousand denials. So in regard to this experience, we 
have those who say they have the blessing. What, 
then, does the adverse testimony of laymen and preach- 
ers amount to against the doctrine when all they say, 
when summed up, is that they have not got it? They, 
in a word, were not on the ground. We were; and, 
thank God, saw the "Old Man 17 killed and buried. In 
other words, we believed, received, and are to-day filled 
and blessed with the joy, liberty and power of the sec- 
ond work of grace. 

Some one told a devout old colored woman that a 
very smart and eloquent lecturer had just said in one 
of his harangues that there was no Holy Ghost. The 
person who told her watched her countenance closely 
as he asked: "Now, Aunt Maria, when such an intel- 
lectual and prominent man says there is no Holy Ghost 
in the world, what are you going to do about it?" The 
aged head was lifted in answer, the trembling hand was 
raised, and with earnest tones she said: "He means to 
say there's no Holy Ghost as he knows on!^ That 
answer was a Waterloo one and cleared the field. 
And so in like manner when we hear of people deny- 
ing the fact of a second work of grace, we say : "Yes, 
there is none that they 'knows on' — but there is one 
just the same." 

The argument is made against us that God does 
everything in one work; but it is overwhelmingly 



206 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

contradicted by the formation of the world with six 
different touches of power, the creation of the human 
family in two distinct works, the two covenants given 
to men, the blessing of Pentecost coming on saved 
men and women, and by other instances of divine 
procedure that I have not time to mention. 

According to reason and revelation, and in agree- 
ment with other Divine works, and in perfect harmony 
with human experience, sanctification is a second work. 

3. SANCTIFICATION IS AN INSTANTANEOUS WORK. 

This third fact likewise arouses the displeasure and 
opposition of a number of God's people. Make the bless- 
ing a gradual growth or an endless series of develop- 
ments, and such a teacher will be held in high ecclesi- 
astical favor, and there will be "room in the inn" for 
him and his teaching. It is the statement of its instan- 
taneousness that seems to exasperate some spirits. 

The proof of the immediate nature of the blessing is 
seen in the aorist tense in which we find the word sanc- 
tify in the text. Scholars have told us that the aorist 
tense will not allow the thought of gradualism or 
development. It stands for a work accomplished once 
for all. 

Another proof is seen in God's will. When could He 
will our sanctification but now, in the present moment? 
To say that H§ wills it a year, month, or even a day 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 207 

hence, would be to destroy the moral character of God. 
It would be to say that God did not will us to be holy 
now and was satisfied with unsanctified lives. We can- 
not believe this a moment. We say "now" is God's 
time, and if He wills us to be sanctified now then He 
has a way to do it now. 

A third proof is seen in God's commands. Turn to 
the Bible and see if the word of injunction there does 
not refer to the present; "Be ye holy!" The call, 
command and promise throughout the Scriptures agree 
as to an instantaneous yielding and immediate experi- 
ence. 

If you confound sanctification with growth in grace, 
the idea of gradualism becomes natural and impera- 
tive ; but when we see that sanctification is a Divine 
work and not a soul process, the impossibility of the 
development theory becomes at once manifest. It is 
an instantaneous Divine cleansing, and as such we are 
commanded to seek and possess it. 

God's commands do not provide for procrastination 
and willful delays. They do not read that way, and 
if we do so treat them it is at our peril. There is no 
command for a gradual honesty. Think if you can of 
a man becoming honest after a gradual fashion; that 
to-day he steals a horse, the next day a cow, then a 
calf, then a hog, then a turkey (oh, how he is improv- 
ing!), then a chicken, and finally an egg. Would any 



208 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

one call that improvement? Would not a child say- 
that the man was as big a thief when he took the egg 
as when he stole the horse? God knows of no such 
honesty, and has no such command. Instead of that 
are the ringing words, "Let him that stole steal no 
more." An instantaneous honesty! So we are not 
called and commanded to a gradual and graduated holi- 
ness, but to an instant and entire destruction of sin 
and perfect filling of the soul with the Holy Ghost. 

A fourth proof is beheld in the power of God. Ask 
yourselves how long it would take God to sanctify the 
soul. He who turned ten thousand devils out of a 
man, changed the water into wine with a word, and 
stilled the storm and raised the dead in an instant, 
how long would it take Him to cast out inbred sin, 
purify the soul and bring in the abiding presence of 
the Comforter? Look at God's power and see the 
answer to the problem. Ask the question if He does 
not want us to be sanctified now, and get still another 
answer. Put the supposition before your mind that 
God can do it and will not do it, or that God wants to 
do it and cannot do it, and either one will literally 
drive you to the true conclusion that God wants to do 
the work, can do it, and is able, willing and ready to 
do it now. 

This is just what thousands and tens of thousands 
are saying over our broad country. They sought 3 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 209 

prayed, believed, expected and received the blessing 
instantaneously. There is no other way of obtaining 
it, and so that is the reason they sought it in that way 
and found it after that manner. 

4. SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE. 

The statement of this proposition arouses antagonism 
and denial just as the other points we have made have 
been seen to do. The desire with many is to regard 
sanctification as simply a deepening of regeneration. 
This of course destroys the individuality of the work, 
and as a consequence would prevent us from saying 
that we have a secret of the Lord, an experience that is 
not known and enjoyed by all the rest of God's people. 
Such a claim is felt to be boastful and presumptuous. 
(< Mastei, in saying these things, thou speakest against 
us." In other words such a claim is supposed to 
reflect on other Christians. It is needless to say that 
this is not intended. It is a natural outcry of joy. 
It is the thankful testimony to a resident inner clean- 
liness and happiness. 

If sanctification is a Divine work, different from and 
subsequent to regeneration, then it is bound to bring a 
peculiar experience. Common sense would tell us 
that, and the experience of a vast multitude confirms 
the fact. 



210 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

The very expressions in the text show that sancti- 
fication ushers in a new experience to the soul. For 
instance the words " sanctify you wholly," declare a 
distinct plane or state of religious life, if any depend- 
ence is to be placed upon words, and especially God 
inspired words. All admit that there is a measure of 
sanctification in regeneration. This is Methodist 
teaching. All that possess that partial sanctification 
in converted life insist that they have an experience, 
and who of us will deny it. But the point I make is, 
that if partial sanctification brings an experience, then 
it would follow that when we are sanctified wholly there 
must be not only an experience as a consequence, but a 
different experience. Cartwright said that he was sanc- 
tified in spots. But suppose that these spots should 
run into each other and cover the whole surface, then 
there must be an experience tallying and agreeing with 
this changed state of things. Let men reason and 
worry as they will about the difference existing be- 
tween "kind" and "degree," the fact remains that 
there is a marvellous dissimilarity between love, peace 
and joy struggling in the soul for foothold and exist- 
ence, and perfect love, joy and peace abiding unbrok- 
enly in the spirit. This is an experience in itself, and 
different from the former, as the happy heart and shin- 
ing face will, and do testify. 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 211 

The words ' 'preserved blameless" also prove a dif- 
ferent religions life and experience. There is no 
promise in the Bible that we will live such lives that 
all men will approve and commend. The Saviour 
Himself did not please many. But there is a spirit- 
ual condition obtainable, in which we continually 
please God, and feel no condemnation. We are pre- 
served blameless and kept by the power of God from 
day to day, from hour to hour, even unto or against 
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is an 
experience in itself, and when w r e remember our former 
Christian life, in w r hich there w r as so much of stumb- 
ling, so much that was to be blamed, and when we 
did not feel kept but left to struggle on in conscious 
weakness and solitude, more than ever we see it is 
an experience. 

A lady was seeking this blessing in San Francisco. 
Just as she was about to receive it, she told me that 
the Saviour seemed to whisper to her, "How long will 
you let me keep you?" She said that her unbelief 
made her shrink back from saying "For all time" — 
and her utmost stretch of faith could only say "For six 
months." At once she said the presence of Christ 
departed, and she was left in horrible darkness. For 
days she mourned Christ's absence and begged Him to 
return. One day she was brought face to face with the 
same experience and question, "How long will you 



212 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

trust me to keep you?" and with a glad exclamation, 
she cried " Forever!" and instantly the fire fell and 
she entered into rest. 

He that is thus sweetly strangely kept from moment 
to moment, and from day to day, is bound to say it is 
an experience. The utter absence of worry and storm, 
the elimination of fret and fault-finding, the delicious 
sense of heart repose in the constant inward presence 
of Christ is an experience, there is no other name for it. 

5. SANCTIFICATION IS WITNESSED TO BY THE HOLY GHOST. 

Here is still another fact connected with the blessing 
that seems productive of agitation, dissension and firm 
denial with quite a number of good people. It seems 
that every feature of this beautiful grace of God arouses 
antagonisim somewhere. But we cannot afford to 
withdraw a single one of them, no matter how objec- 
tionable they may be to certain individuals. To do so 
is to rob the blessing of its glory and destroy its indi- 
viduality. 

So in spite of doubt and denial here and there, we 
affirm with great gladness, that the Holy Ghost wit- 
nesses to the blessing of sanctification. This truth is 
imbedded in the text, for the reason that the Spirit 
witnesses to every work of God; here is a work, and 
there must be and is a witness. 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 213 

He who can only recognize the testimony of the 
Holy Spirit to the fact of son-ship, has evidently not 
thought much on the subject, nor even read the Bible 
as carefully as he should. So far from one testimony, 
it is clear that the Holy Ghost witnesses to every state 
in the spiritual life whether the man be good or evil. 

The Holy Ghost witnesses to a man that he is a sin- 
ner, and it is this divine whisper that makes him go 
down before God and men, with trembling knees and 
hand-smitten breast. 

The Holy Ghost witnesses to pardon and son-ship. 
No one hears an audible voice, but the testimony is 
given within somehow, and the forgiven one leaps 
from his knees or from the altar, laughing, crying, 
shouting or declaring that he is saved. 

The Holy Ghost testifies to a call to the ministry. 
He witnesses to the heart that God wants you to preach 
the gospel. No one hears any voice, no one else in the 
family has the disturbing and vivid impression that is 
upon you, and that will not let you rest until you say 
l 'Yes." Then follows a flood of sweetest peace and 
ecstacy. 

The Holy Ghost witnesses to inbred sin. In fact no 
one can show it to }^ou but the Spirit of God. I may 
preach about it but it takes the Holy Ghost to show it 
in all its sickening shape and movements. When He 
reveals it and bears witness to it, down you go in an 



214 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

agony like Isaiah, feeling or saying "Woe is me — for I 
am undone.' ' No more earmons are needed to con- 
vince. The fluent speech is over, the soul is found in 
the dust, for God the Holy Ghost has spoken. What 
can man do and say when God speaks? 

The Holy Ghost testifies to the destruction and erad- 
ication of inbred sin, in other words, He witnesses to 
sanctification. How He does it is not in the province 
or power of man to say. It cannot be explained. The 
very thought how a spirit can speak to a spirit and 
make that spirit know a thing without the use of 
audible language, fills the mind with a profound bewil- 
derment. Mr. Wesley says, concerning the witness 
of the Spirit, that it is "an inward impression wrought 
in the soul." Does that clear up the matter? How 
can a spirit make an impression upon a spirit that 
shall be intelligible and understood where not a word 
is spoken. The matter simply cannot be explained, 
but thank God the fact remains and is daily experi- 
enced. The Holy Ghost witnesses to sanctification as 
He does to regeneration, and the instant he does the 
man quits seeking w r hat he has found and proclaims 
with tears, smiles and shouts, "I have it. n Now he 
is like a rock! Nothing can shake or move him. He 
knows he has the blessing. The Spirit told him so. 

Our fraternal messenger to the General Conference of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, said to that body in 



ENTIRE 8ANCTIFICATI0N. 215 

his address, that there was no direct witness or testi- 
mony of the Spirit of God to the state or fact of sancti- 
fication. Many of us read this remarkable statement 
with smiles, when we remembered how St. Paul dif- 
fered with the brother. In Hebrews, chapter 10, 
verses 14 and 15, we have the inspired declaration, 
" For by one offering he hath perfected forever them 
that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost is also a 
witness to us."" 

So according to experience, and above all according 
to the Word of God, the Spirit witnesses to the grace 
and blessing of sanctification. Like the name in the 
white stone, no one knoweth it saving he that receive th 
it. He that has not the divine whisper will continue to 
speculate, doubt and deny; we are not surprised at his 
uncertainty. But Oh ! how certain we are who have 
received the blessing and have heard and still hear the 
voice of God testifying to the work he has done in the 
soul. 

The outward demonstration may have been different ; 
for some shout, some laugh, others weep and still 
others do nothing but sit down and luxuriate voice- 
lessly in a measureless and indescribable calm. The 
inward reception of the blessing may differ to the con- 
sciousness of those receiving it. To one it is like a 
tempest of fire, to another like a deluge of honey. One 
is tossed on billows of glory, while another is brought 



216 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

into port, and anchored so deep in the love and grace 
of God, that there seems but one word that describes 
the new life, and that word — stillness — stillness — still- 
ness. 

Yes the Holy Ghost witnesses to the blessing of 
sanctification. So I say to all, and beg all, do not 
think of stopping until you receive it; do not dream of 
resting in anything but the vivid, thrilling testimony 
of the Holy Ghost Himself that you are sanctified. 
When that comes it is wonderful how unshaken and 
unshakable we are. It is delightful to feel how ridi- 
cule and opposition alike fall harmless before us. 
Great waves may be rolled upon us from the world and 
hell, but with the witness in the soul, we come safely 
through it all and are. left towering Gibralter-like far 
above the spent and broken forces at our feet. 

6. HOW TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING. 

It is blessed to see in so many places in the Bible how 
the way is laid down for us to sweep into the gracious 
experience. The Saviour in two places in the gospel 
marks the route. Paul shows it in Romans and Heb- 
rews, while James in his Epistle also reveals it twice. 
So again and again I have been thrilled to see the steps 
laid down by prophet, apostle and evangelist, and to 
notice that always, in spite of verbal dissimilarity or 
difference in figure used, how they all agree on conse- 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 217 

cration and faith. These essentials are never left out, 
but are always found in every presentation of the way 
we are to tread, if we would come ''into the holiest." 

Glancing upward from the text at the verses im- 
mediately preceding, I see that if they are faithfully 
carried out in their teaching, they will lead us into the 
blessing, just as they lead directly to the text. Sup- 
pose we start with the 17th verse, the 6th from the 
text. 

"Pray Without Ceasing.' 7 

If any one should ask me to-day how to obtain the 
blessing of sanctification, I would reply, commence 
praying at once. If you have been talking and argu- 
ing, all the greater need to go to praying. Break 
off talking to men and go to talking with God. He 
knows all about it, while some men know a little and a 
great many know nothing about it. Talk with God. 
Get on your knees and beg for light. Remember that 
God teaches us through our communings with Him. I 
would also say, keep on praying; do not stop; let 
nothing discourage you. If there is no answer from the 
skies at first, then all the greater need to "pray with- 
out ceasing. " It is the importunate prayer that makes 
such headway here. The little every-day prayer on 
which you have grown cold and back-slided will not 
do. The regulation prayer you have used in the pul- 
pit, prayer-meeting, or family circle, will not do. You 



218 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

must get up a new prayer, if it is composed entirely 
of groans, sobs, cries and ejaculations of "Lord, give 
me light" — "have mercy," etc. 

I knew a young man who got on his knees one 
morning and prayed steadily on to dinner time. The 
congregation left h,im but he remained at the altar. In 
the afternoon the people returned to have a prayer- 
meeting, and found him still praying. They remained 
an hour and left him the second time to the silence 
and shadows of the church. But he clung to the altar, 
and stuck to his knees, and kept calling on God, and 
at five o'clock, after six hours' prayer, the fire fell and 
he obtained the blessing. 

"Quench not the Spirit." 

Remember that the Holy Spirit wants to lead you 
into this experience. If you let Him He will do so? 
He has guided many thousands into it, and is leading 
many more. He will bring you in if you will not resist 
His holy motions and quench the blessed light He 
introduces. 

As Mary told the servants at Cana, so I tell you: 
"Whatsoever he saith unto you do it." If He brings 
something up in the mind attend to it. Say "Yes" to 
Him no matter what He bids you do. If you will 
thus follow and be led by Him, He will bring you into 
the blessing. 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 219 

''Despise not prophesyings." 

This includes preaching, teaching and testifying. 
God will send you sufficient to give you all the light 
you need. Listen and reflect on what you hear about 
sanctification. Do not be fault-finding, critical, and 
above all hypercritical. Do not despise a testimony 
because it is simply given, or is uttered by a plain- 
looking person. Do not make the blunder of thinking 
that what is said is untrue because it is beyond you 
and your experience. Whatever you do, do not despise 
and condemn the prophesyings of God's people who 
have swept ahead of you in divine things. It will 
only harden your heart and you will have to take it all 
back before you get the blessing. Oh! the light and 
wisdom I have seen and heard in these fervent utter- 
ances of God's sanctified children. 

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.'' 

You and I are 4 not bound to swallow down and 
practice all that we hear even from good people. Prove 
all things. See if it is reasonable. Test it with the 
Word of God. Reject what is foolish, fanatical, non- 
sensical and non-essential, and hold fast that which is 
good. 

"Abstain from all appearance of evil." 

This verse alone shows that justified people are being 
addressed. If sinners were being talked to we would 
have to say, "Give up evil itself,*' but here it is the 



220 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

appearance of evil. The holy life will not allow even 
the questionable and suspicious condition or circum- 
stance. 

In a word we are to live the sanctified life before we 
get the sanctified blessing. This very thing is to prove 
to God the fact and measure of our desire for the grace. 
I am to mortify "The Old Man" on the outside, before 
God will kill him on the inside. I am to sweep down 
every spider-web before God will kill the spider. We 
are to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and 
spirit if we would perfect holiness. We are to abstain 
from all appearance of evil if we would see the glory of 
God. 

Some w r ould think such a life of abstaining from the 
very appearance of sin would be sufficient; that this is 
holiness itself. Not so. Listen to the word. It is 
after we have abstained from all appearance of evil 
that the text is uttered, "And the very God of peace 
sanctify you wholly." It is when we do the former 
that God does the latter. We must give up not only 
all evil, but the appearance of evil and then the God of 
peace will sanctify us. 

There is no other way of obtaining the blessing. It 
is the way I got it, and the way others got it. I 
prayed without ceasing, quenched not the Spirit, de- 
spised not the prophesying of God's people, proved all 
things, held fast to that which was good whether said or 



Ex\TIRE SANCTIFICATION. 221 

done, and abstained from all appearance of evil with 
the eyes of the soul looking steadfastly to Jesus. It 
was then! Glory to God ! Hallelujah! happy day! 
that God sanctified me. r l he fire fell, the Spirit wit- 
nessed, and I laughed, wept, shouted and praised God 
all over the room. I knew I was sanctified; my 
neighbors knew it; the devils in hell knew it; the 
angels of heaven knew it; and an increasing number 
of people have been knowing it every year, and please 
God a still greater number shall know it as the days roll 
on until breath shall fail, heart cease to beat, the tongue 
moulder in the dust, while the happy soul in some 
bright, far-away world shall find some new way and 
method of worshipping, witnessing, adoring and prais- 
ing the Triune God of my salvation. 

Vv T e hear a number complaining that they cannot 
obtain the great blessing. In many of these instances 
I find mental reservations, a part of the value withheld 
for the pearl of great price. 

Some say they do not know what is the matter with 
them. But there is something the matter or the Holy 
fire would fall. He who takes the steps we have laid 
down is bound to receive the blessing of sanctification. 
Nothing else can happen, for God is true, and never 
fails or disappoints the honest whole-hearted seeker. 
Hallelujah? 



222 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Be sure of it that the thing which keeps coming up 
in your mind is the thing God wants you to do, and 
which if you will not do, will prevent the Baptism of 
the Holy Ghost and fire from coming upon you. Do 
it! Rise up to-day in God's name and say I will do 
it, and He who is called "Faithful" will open the win- 
dows of heaven above you and pour you out such a 
blessing that there will not be room enough to receive 
it. It will be the blessing you have wanted all your 
life: The Baptism of Jesus; the sanctification of your 
soul; the great soul filling, heart- satisfying blessing 
which God wills us to have, and which we must have 
in order to see the Lord. 

I heard a minister of the gospel once say that he 
knew a gentleman. of wealth who began to lose his 
health. On consulting with one of the most distin- 
guished physicians in a large city, he was informed 
that he had a tumor, and that the only hope for his life 
was to undergo a surgical operation. He was also told 
that there was not more than one chance in a hundred 
for his recovery if he submitted to the operation. 
Here, indeed, was a dreary alternative. Death certain 
unless the knife was used; and ninety-nine chances to 
one against his living if it was used. He took a week 
reflect, and very serious were his reflections. But he 
was a man of nerve and will force. One day he quietly 
made his will and divided his estate. He arranged every- 



ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 223 

thing in regard to property and home for the comfort 
of his wife. He wrote letters of business and bade 
farewell to his friends, overlooked nothing along every 
line that should have been attended to, secured the 
services of three superior surgeons, and appointed the 
day himself for the operation to take place. The 
morning arrived and the surgeons with it. Going into 
the back parlor the husband had his last interview with 
his wife. It was tender and solemn. They knelt 
down and prayed together. He arose kissed her good- 
bye, walked into the front room where he had ordered 
a table to be brought, stripped himself of his cloth- 
ing, laid himself on the table, folded his arms and 
looking into the eyes of the chief surgeon said — u Pro- 
ceed. " An anaesthetic was administered, the man 
went off, he knew not how long into unconsciousness. 
It was three hours ! At last with gasps he came back, 
and opening his eyes, he saw the smiling face of the 
surgeon, who said, "The operation is over, and it is a 
perfect success. " 

Just so some of you feel that you are not well spirit- 
ually. It has been a struggle to keep up, and do and 
be what you would like to do and become. You have 
felt there is an inward trouble that accounts for you 
feeble spiritual health and varying religious life. The 
Bible tells you that the malady is inbred sin. If you 
do not have it removed you may yet lose your soul. It 



224 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

has already brought you trouble, it may yet bring you 
a great deal more. I beg you to employ Jesus to take 
it out. He can do so. Make your will, say good-bye 
to everything and everybody, stretch yourself on this 
altar, and looking up to Jesus, the great physician, 
say " Proceed. n 

It will seem to you that you have had an anaesthetic 
administered, and you will go off. You may forget 
everything, see nothing and hear nothing for awhile. 
You may be down in the straw or saw-dust or on the 
floor for minutes or hours, and know nothing of what 
is going on. But by and by a great surge of life and 
joy will rush into you, you will open your eyes and 
look up, and Lo! the face of Christ will be beaming on 
you, and He will say to your astonished, thrilled and 
delighted soul, "The operation is over, and it is a per- 
fect success." In a word, inbred sin will be gone, and 
you will be sanctified. 



IX. 

THE FULL JOY. 

"These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might 
remain in you, and that your joy might be full,"— John, 
15:11. 

THE world is famous for its misconceptions and 
general ignorance of the Divine Being. We hear 
almost daily, passing current, and rarely con- 
tradicted, things attributed to God that rob Him of all 
pity and mercy, and give Him a ferocity and undying 
spirit of vengeance that can not find a shadow of con- 
firmation in the Bible or in these heaven-blessed lives 
of ours. It is against these misrepresentations, these 
perversions of the character of God, that infidels rave 
to-day, and think they assail the Lord of the Bible, 
when they are striking at an awful caricature of the 
Almighty. 

In like manner men fall into mistakes about the 
Saviour. The popular view is that He was a very sad 
man, a man of sorrows above all other men; that while 
He was seen to weep, no one ever saw Him smile or 
heard Him laugh. All the pictures I ever beheld of the 
Saviour, and especially the old paintings I viewed of 
Him in the art galleries of Europe, represented Him 

225 



226 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

with face melancholy, tear and blood-stained, or con- 
vulsed with agony. 

It is well for us to remember that if Christ had sor- 
rows, they were not for Himself. What had His pure 
heart and beautiful holy life done that He should grieve? 
If He was sad it was not about Himself, and if He 
wept, behold! it was over Jerusalem. 

It is also well to bear in mind that if Christ bore 
habitually the melancholy, agonized look that painters 
give Him, that His invitations to and sermons on Rest 
would have been utter failures. Think of a being with 
a confirmed look of grief, saying, "Come, and I will 
give you rest." Who believes that the little children 
would have stretched out their arms and nestled in 
His breast if He had the gloomy countenance with 
which tradition invests Him 

With these opening remarks, I now call your atten- 
tion to the blessed facts I find in the text. And first — 

1. THAT CHRIST HAS A JOY. 

Do you remember with what strains of triumph and 
gladness Prophecy spoke of the coming of Christ into 
the world? Read anywhere you will in the Old Tes- 
tament, and whether it is Jacob, Balaam, David or 
Isaiah speaking, all had the words and accent of a 
great joy in telling of the advent of the Messiah. 



THE FULL JOY. 227 

Then what joy the night of His birth. Angels swung 
low in the sky over the fields of Bethlehem, and the 
world, as well as the astonished shepherds, has never 
forgotten the gladness of their song of annunciation, 
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace good 
will toward men." 

Concerning His Kingdom, the Bible says it is one 
of "Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.' 7 

Concerning Himself the Word of God declares, i { Thou 
hast annointed Him with the oil of gladness above all 
His fellows." 

In confirmation of the fact of His own personal hap- 
piness and soul buoyancy, Christ says here in the text, 
"My Joy." 

So He had a joy. This is not the only time He re- 
fers to it. and there were times it so blazed out of His 
face that men wondered. About His joy I notice sev- 
eral things. 

One was that it was of a profoundly deep nature. 
It was not the noisy brawl of the shallow brook, but 
would be better pictured by a silent, outspread ocean. 
I love demonstrativeness in the religious life, but I 
have seen souls so full of holy joy that the very weight 
of the glory produced stillness. 

Again, His joy appeared in the unlikeliest times. It 
was when one would think that surrounding unbelief 
and apparent defeat would bring occasion for sorrow, 



228 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

that suddenly the joy of Christ would flame forth 
greater than ever. Notably was this seen when the 
Pharisees heardened their hearts against His teaching. 
Yet it is written, w T onder upon w r onder ! that Jesus 
rejoiced in spirit and said, " Father, I thank Thee that 
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, 
and revealed them unto babes." Again, in the dark- 
ness and horror of the dying hour on the cross, His 
joy burst forth again in the cry, "It is finished!'' 
Oh, what was in that dying cry ! The work of such a 
life-time, the salvation of the world, the way opened up 
for the return of a lost race — all had been accomplished. 
No wonder His last cry was the shout "It is finished!" 
While others wept, groaned and trembled, Jesus ex- 
pired with a mighty cry of triumph. Isaiah throws 
light on it in the words, "He shall see of the travail of 
His soul and be satisfied." 

Still again, Christ's joy remained in the darkest cir- 
cumstances. Judas betrayed Him, but His peace could 
no man take away. Peter denied Him, but He re- 
mained calm and restful Many turned from following 
Him at one time, and at another hour the twelve fled, 
leaving Him bound in the hands of His enemies. But 
He said in the midst of it all that He was not alone ; 
that the Father was with Him, and left record in that 
speech of a joy as far above the pleasures known by 
what is called the multitude or crowd as heaven is 



THE FULL JOY. 229 

above the earth. What a marvellous gladness is that 
which neither desertion of friend or wrath of enemy or 
assault of hell could disturb or destroy ! And yet this 
is what Christ had. 

A second thought I find in the text is : 

2. THAT CHRIST HAS A WISH FOR HIS FOLLOWERS. 

First, He wants us to have joy. This is the plain 
statement of the text, and completely refutes the idea 
of a gloomy Christianity. There are some people w T ho 
think cheerfulness is a sin ; that to unbend from the 
severest gravity shows loss of grace and savors of iniq- 
uity. I know of people who have that idea of the 
Christian religion, and will not allow children to play, 
and when a bright conversational spirit is indulged 
with smiles and an occasional laugh, will say to one 
thus offending, "Look out, brother," "Be careful, my 
Christian friend." 

I can see how w r rong instruction about the spirit of 
Christianity, and how T ill-health, and ascetic times 
and ages could generate such views. But this does not 
make it right, and we need to come into the clear, 
cloudless presence of Christ to be correctly taught 
about the sunniness of true piety. 

I am not standing for hilarity, jocularity or frivolity, 
but the joy that comes from salvation. There are two 
kinds of joy unquestionably. The outbursts of merri- 



230 



REVIVAL SERMONS. 



ment among the worldly have no place in the happiness 
I speak of here. I remember that a gentleman came 
to one of my meetings, and as he marked the glad spirit, 
listened to the shouts and occasional laughter of the 
shining faced congregation, he was at first disturbed 
and displeased; but in a little while he saw the laugh 
and gladness was not of the world at all — that it was of 
heaven, and that worldly people could see nothing in it 
and could not join in it. So he sought me out and 
said, "I take back all I said about this meeting, I see 
it is of God." So distinct and separate are the joys 
of salvation and of the world that I have noticed that 
when the world laughs the real Christian does not, 
and w r hen Christians rejoice and shout sinners are 
silent. 

Again, while Christ wants us to have joy, He desires 
it to be His joy. The text is explicit here — "That my 
joy might be in you." This, of course, makes it a holy 
gladness, and separates it from the unprofitable mirth 
of the world. As a Christ-like joy, it must be like His 
in the respects I have mentioned. In the unlikeliest 
times it must flame out. Just as I once heard a sanc- 
tified man shout while listening to an anti-holiness ser- 
mon, and just as I have seen bereaved people suddenly 
rejoice by the side of open coffin or grave. At the 
very moment others who have not this joy would 
go down we who possess it must arise and shine. In 



THE FULL JOY. 231 

the darkest circumstances it should beam forth like 
a star clear and white through rifted clouds at mid- 
night. This was Christ's joy, and He wants us to 
have it. 

Then He desires our joy to be full. Here must go 
down all argument for a gloomy religion and ascetic 
piety. How can such views stand a moment before the 
words ? "These things have I spoken unto you — that 
your joy might be /»//." 

Still again, He wants this full joy to remain. He 
says this in so many words. Where is he who can 
plead for a variable, fluctuating religious experience in 
the face of this text? To all who look for occasional 
spells of gladness and many days of unrest, uncer- 
tainty, and even gloom, I call attention to the words of 
the Son of God, "These things have I spoken that my 
joy might remain in you.'' A full joy in the heart and 
remaining, seems to settle the question with me about 
an even religious experience, a constantly shining face 
and an unbroken victory in the soul. I see no room 
for moping and melancholy. Of course Christ does not 
mean that everything on the outside will be straight- 
ened up; He is speaking of the inside. He says dis- 
tinctly, in the world ye shall have tribulation, but in 
Me ye shall have peace. There may be war and dis- 
cord in the world, but peace and joy shall be in the 
soul. 



232 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

3. THE REASON FOR OUR POSSESSING THIS JOY. 

One reason is that the joyful state is the proper con- 
dition of the soul. It seems to quicken and arouse 
every dormant faculty of the spirit. We have all seen 
ordinary people become extraordinary under spiritual 
rapture, and all who listen to me now can recall times 
when, under the spell of holy joy, you stood transfig- 
ured, not only before your friends, but before yourself. 
Then arose to the surface gifts and capacities that you 
scarcely dreamed of; there were depths of love, a 
sweeping rush of speech, and possibility and ability as 
well, to achieve and suffer for God and man, all sud- 
denly revealed to you, that filled you with tremblings 
of a delicious happiness. Joy seems to have the touch 
of the Prince that wakes up the slumbering beauties 
and powers of the soul. 

Again, it best recommends the service and Kingdom 
of Christ. One thing you will readily see, that an illy 
dressed child, a sad and hungry looking clerk and 
laborer is a sad commentary on the family that claims 
or the firm that employs them. In like manner a mel- 
ancholy Christian will but poorly represent a gospel 
that means Good News, and a Saviour who is said to 
be anointed with joy above all His fellows. 

Recently at a meeting a woman of eighty years of 
age, and member of the church all her life, came to the 
altar. Noticing the look of settled gloom on her face 



THE FULL JOY. 233 

and bidding her look to Christ, she replied: "I have 
been a mourner sixty years ! " She evidently intended 
to impress me, and she did. Think of a soul mourn- 
ing in the service of God for over half a century ! And 
think of the harm she had done, the low spirits and 
blue horrors she had generated in others in that time 
by her very appearance, not to speak of her words. On 
the other hand, a child of God happy and rejoicing be- 
comes a walking advertisement of the goodness of God 
and the preciousness of the Gospel. 

Again, this joy is attractive. 

We need a drawing power in the church. And Christ 
has supplied it in the bright faces and overflowing hearts 
of His people. When this holy gladness filled the dis- 
ciples the whole city of Jerusalem was affected, and 
rushed down to behold the marvellous spectacle of joy- 
filled men and women, and from that day to this when- 
ever the church has hearkened to Christ, and tarried 
for this blessed, abiding experience, the old attractive 
power and drawing influence has at once been felt. We 
need none of the wretched make-shifts we see in some 
places to-day. We need no games, frolics and church 
suppers. The Holy Ghost filling us with a holy joy 
will draw the right crowd and draw them not for 
amusement, but for salvation. 

I am sure that if we were prospecting for a settlement 
somewhere, and on passing the shores of a certain 



234 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

country would see that all the inhabitants, whether on 
street or road, in field or on bank of river, were looking 
healthy and happy, we would feel like casting anchor 
and driving down stakes w T ith them. On the other hand, 
if they looked poorly fed, were in rags, and had sal- 
low, cadaverous countenances, we would naturally sail 
by such a country that was killing the inhabitants by 
poverty and malaria. 

Only let the church get the full and abiding joy of 
Christ, and there will be a rush from the ranks of sin- 
ners to join the happy, singing, shouting servants of 
Heaven, whose faces, voices and lives all agree in the 
testimony of having a better time than the world ever 
dreamed of. It is not mournful songs of captivity by 
the waters of Babel that will win men to us, but halle- 
lujahs of salvation and perfect spiritual freedom ring- 
ing forth on the air. It is not a willow wand we want, 
but a palm branch. Not a miserere, but a rapturous 
Hosanna. 

"Joy to the world, the Lord has come! 

Let earth receive her King; 
Let every heart prepare Him room, 
And heaven and nature sing." 

Again this joy convicts. 

We all crave for the church the power to smite sin- 
ners to the heart. We want to see them troubled so 
that they cannot eat, drink or sleep, but will fall head- 
long at the altar, crying for mercy. 



THE FULL JOY. 235 

In all my round of observation and reading I have 
never known anything to surpass in convicting influ- 
ence the sight of a body of God's people filled with a 
mighty, holy joy. It was this very spectacle at Pente- 
cost that broke to pieces a multitude in Jerusalem, and 
made men smite their breasts, crying out, "What must 
we do?" We have all seen similar scenes many times 
and in widely separated places, and I have observed 
that men who can brace themselves successfully against 
argument, reproof, song and sermon go down in the 
presence of a genuine general rejoicing of the church. 
On one occasion I beheld a powerful conviction fall on 
a congregation, brought about by the loud, continuous 
laughter of two sanctified people in the audience. They 
were male and female, were on opposite sides of the 
church, and did not even know each other, but God 
filled their souls and overflowed their lips with raptur- 
ous laughter. Oh, how they laughed ! and how startled 
the audience looked ! They felt they w r ere being flanked. 
Then a great awe settled down upon the assembly, and 
that night the altar was filled. 

Here we are looking around for great men and mighty 
arguments to sweep dow T n the opposition of sin and the 
world, when if we would only wait on God until we 
obtained this joy of Christ that is full and that remains 
nothing could stand before us, 



236 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Furthermore, this joy is an inspiration to Christian 
endeavor and achievement. 

I was reading recently of a great fire in one of our large 
cities. One lofty building was soon doomed, when, on 
the top floor, a child was seen at a window. A fireman 
ran up the ladder and tried to enter a room in the story 
below, but the heat and smoke were so great that he re- 
coiled. Just then some one in the crowd below, mark- 
ing his hesitation, cried out, " Give him a cheer," and 
at once a mighty shout went up. It fired and filled the 
man, and he made a great leap, and dashing through 
the window into the room staggered through the smoke 
up the staircase into the upper floor, caught the child 
and in a few moments reappeared at the window with 
it in his arms. As he descended the long ladder and 
gave the child in safety to its distracted loved ones, the 
shout that followed fairly rent the heavens. 

This is what is needed in the church to-day, and yet 
what is rarely seen or heard. There are reforms to be 
made, rebukes to be uttered and deeds to be done in 
the denunciation of sin or the defense of truth where 
the preacher, writer or worker needs to be cheered and 
in every way morally sustained by the people of God 
everywhere. Instead of this, however, he finds to his 
amazement that he is lectured for his boldness, told 
that he is without tact, informed that he is fanatical 
and extreme and advised to go slow. This comes often 



THE FULL JOY. 237 

from high quarters, where he should have met with 
encouragement and approval. What wonder that many 
ardent spirits have been chilled. A divine vocation 
is transformed into a mere profession, and a flaming 
messenger of Heaven into a simple pulpit figurehead. 

Instead of this if the church was full of holy joy, her 
cries of faith, spirit of courage and waving banners of 
victory would gladden, inspire and electrify the hearts 
of her sons and daughters in difficult and dangerous 
places ; and brilliant deeds and wonders of accomplish- 
ment would be seen on all sides, to the astonishment 
of hell, the delight of earth and joy of heaven. 

Lord, give us this great and glad blessing. 

4„ THIS JOY IS THE RESULT OF A SECOND WORK OF 

GRACE. 

Please read again the first five words of the text: 
"These things have I spoken."' What things? Read 
the sixteenth chapter of John from which the text is 
taken. The things that Christ had been speaking 
about were the vine and branches. He said that some 
of these branches w T hich bore no fruit were taken away 
and burned. Then He said there were other branches 
which did bear fruit. Notice they were in the vine 
which is Christ, and bearing fruit. But mark you the 
Divine Husbandman purge th or cleanseth these fruit- 
bearing limbs that they might bring forth more fruit, 



238 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

This is what a great wing in the church is contend- 
ing for to-day; that after getting into Christ, feel- 
ing the sap of the Divine life coursing in us, and 
bringing forth fruit unto God, there is a second and 
subsequent work of grace which purgeth, cleanseth and 
purifieth the soul, and from that hour we bring forth 
fruit more abundantly. 

Jesus had been speaking of this cleansing, and so 
says: "These things have I spoken to you; " that is, 
all about the purging of the branch in the vine ; and to 
the end that they might have his joy, a full joy and a 
joy that would remain. 

There is no question but that this is the only way to 
obtain the gladness He speaks of. He who is already 
in Christ the Vine, and will seek the Divine cleansing 
or purification of his justified soul, will immediately 
receive Christ's joy which is full and will remain. 

The very expression, "My joy," shows a second and 
subsequent experience. Christ's joy is not the happi- 
ness of a pardoned man. The justified soul has a 
gladness of its own. Hence we have the two express- 
ions in the text, "My joy" and "Your joy." 

Let "My joy" remain in you and "your joy" will be 
full, are the words of the Saviour. May they be fol- 
lowed out to-day. Let every justified man, or branch 
in the vine, get the purging from inbred sin by the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost ? and the result will be not 



THE FULL JOY. 239 

only more fruit in the life, but Christ's joy in the soul; 
a full joy at that, and one that remains in spite of every 
circumstance and condition of life. 

5. WHAT IS THIS JOY. 

It has component parts. It is subject to spiritual 
analysis. And it actually increases the gladness of the 
owner to observe the different parts of this complete 
whole. 

It is the joy of purity. 

This is what takes place in sanctification. When 
the baptism of the Holy Ghost fell on the disciples, 
Peter said their hearts were "purified by faith." The 
instant w T e receive the second work of grace w r e feel the 
same purification. This is the first thought that thrills 
the soul, "I am clean." It is not the cleanness that 
comes from pardoned sin, but a purity w T hich has been 
wrought by the Baptism of Fire. The soul feels that it 
has been made pure. This is not only a conviction, 
but a blessed realization. It is this distinct experience 
and soul possession or heart condition w T hich gives 
such a bouyancy to the spirit, such a brightness to the 
face, such a flash and sparkle to the eye, such a thrill 
to the voice and causes such hallelujahs and joyous 
songs to flow from the lips. 

The instant the soul loses this distinct experience of 
purity, it droops, the face clouds, the daughters of 



240 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

music become still and the whole life silent and 
melancholy. 

I once heard of a canary bird that was a great singer. 
He was at it from morning to night as he fluttered 
about in his handsome cage that had in it every supply 
for his wants. One day his little glass bowl was broken 
which was bath-tub or cleansing fountain to him. Im- 
mediately it was noticed that he began to droop, sang 
fitfully and on the second day quit singing altogether. 
All were alarmed about the little pet and thought he 
was sick. After nearly a week another glass bowl full 
of water was placed in the cage. At once the bird flew 
to its brim and in a flutter of delight began to spatter 
the crystal fluid and spray it over his feathers and 
prune and cleanse himself. At the same time the 
singing recommenced? It seemed that he only sang 
when he was clean. 

So with the soul. Take away the sense of cleanness 
and it droops and is silent. But as long as it keeps 
pure with the cleansing blood of Christ it sings, no 
matter where it is. It is happy and blest with the joy 
of conscious purity. 

Second, It is the joy of obedience. 

Do you know there is scarcely a sweeter joy. Many 
of us have been misinformed and wrongly taught about 
it. Most of us grew up with the idea that obedience 
Was a kind of slavery which we would gladly throw off 



THE FULL JOY. 24i 

when we were grown. Satan also has whispered the 
falsehood to us that obedience to anyone was a 
species of bondage, that the law and commandments of 
God were oppressive and that having our own way and 
throwing off all authority was the way to happiness. 
That disobedience brought not only freedom but glad- 
ness and delight. Alas, that any of us ever believed 
him and fell into his snares. 

If disobedience brings gladness, why is the dis- 
obedient child so dark-faced, sullen and miserable. 
1 recall once having played truant from school. 
I did so at the instigation of a class-mate who 
told me that if I would not go to school, but let 
the family think I had gone, I could fill the hours 
thus taken from tiresome book tasks with joy by 
playing truant or "hookey" as he called it. I be- 
lieved him, deceived my mother, stayed from school 
and tried to frolic away the five or six hours with my 
young companions in the basement of a large dwelling. 
A number of games were played and there was a great 
effort to be happy. But to this day I remember 
the length of those hours, the dreariness of the 
games, and the heavy load and sick heart I carried 
in my breast. I never played "hookey" again. I 
found out that disobedience was not the way for a boy 
to find happiness. On the other hand have we not 



242 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

all noticed how bright, cheerful and contented, obedient 
children are. 

Disobedience does not bring gladness to the citizen. 
Let a man break the law and then behold his wretched- 
ness. Thoughts of jail, the apprehension of officers, 
writs of arrest and commitments now fill and terrorize 
his mind. But look at the obedient citizen, how he 
walks unconcerned by penitentiaries, brushes the very 
sleeve of a policeman and is full of rest as to that side of 
life. What and why should he fear? He is keeping 
the law. 

Now take the sinner or refractory child of God. 
Do we not know that disobedience makes them both 
miserable? Do I need to prove it when we see 
their miserable faces and hear their wretched confes- 
sions? 

It is obedience to God that brings joy. Many of us 
have found it so; and that while occasional acts of 
submission brought blessing, that a constant submission 
and steady obedience fills the soul with perfect peace. 
The happiest man that ever lived, the One who was 
anointed with joy, above all his fellows said, "Lo, I 
have come to do thy will, God," and again, "I 
always do those things which please Him." This 
Christ-joy, God will put in every believers heart who 
will seek it as should be done. 



THE FULL JOY. 243 

Third, It is the joy of sacrifice. 

How the world dreads this word and its practice in 
life. The very terms self-immolation, self-abnegation, 
crucifixion and death of self fills them w T ithpain. They 
believe such a life is one of misery. Satan has told 
them so, and they believe him. They do not know 
that the purest happiness arises from the spirit and 
practice of sacrifice or living and dying for others. 
Feeling as they do that the way to happiness is by self 
coddling and gratification they avoid the life we 
speak of in every conceivable way. They clamor for 
their rights , struggle for their privileges, and live for 
their own comfort and ease. We have only to glance 
at them to see they have met with utter failure to find 
happiness by the route they travel. The most miser- 
able people I ever met are those who always must have 
and do have what they call Ci their way." The funeral 
of their pleasure and contentment was long ago pre- 
dicted by Christ when He said, "He that saveth his 
life shall lose it." 

We read of one in this Book who never pleased Him- 
self. He emptied Himself for the happiness and sal- 
vation of others. His whole life was one long sacrifice. 
Was He miserable? Read the text — "These things 
have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in 
you." Study the people who are filled with His Spirit 
and copy His example and see if they are gloomy. 



244 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Did you ever hear of the household drudge. By 
some kind of tacit agreement or understanding the 
whole family allow one member to bear the main bur- 
den of work. I have seen such things done, and saw 
a light in the countenance of that over-loaded and over- 
worked one that was not to be seen in the others. 

I was once visiting a Faith Home in one of our large 
cities. It was run in behalf of foundlings. One of the 
nurses was a young woman of nineteen or twenty. Her 
face was fairly lustrous with that " shine" the Holy 
Ghost alone can give. I was so struck with the holy 
joyful light which beamed from her countenance that I 
asked about her, and found that she was a young lady 
who had voluntarily entered upon this work of nursing 
and taking care of these poor little cast off infants ; that 
she refused all compensation and did it from pure love 
to Christ and these deeply wronged children. The life 
of sacrifice brought a joy to her heart and beautiful 
light to her face that could never be found in the abodes 
of selfishness and worldly pleasure. 

I once had a presiding elder who so loved the work 
of God and the souls of men, that he would stay away 
from his home two and three months at a time on his 
district. He loved his home but soul saving had be- 
come a passion with him and he burned up to do good. 
Several times I slept in the same room with him, and 
when he prayed by his bedside before retiring I have 



THE FULL JOY. 245 

seen him so under the power of God that he shook and 
trembled -like a man with a congestive chill. The 
whole life was one of sacrifice and the same joy that 
filled his Lord was overflowing him as the inseparable 
accompaniment and compensation of such a life. 

Fourth, It is the joy of persecution. 

How men dread persecution. They think that when 
abuse, detraction and opposition comes to the life, joy 
must go. How is it possible to be happy when every 
body is talking about them and in various ways is against 
them. "tJence many thousands carefully avoid saying 
and doing anything that will bring such a storm down 
upon their lives. 

I once thought that the people who were abused and 
slandered in the Christian life must be perfectly miser- 
able and unable to eat or sleep. I never made a greater 
mistake in my life. On coming to know such people I 
found them radiant with joy. eating well, sleeping 
quietly, and working for God joyously without any 
letting up. The miserable people I found were those 
who were conducting the persecution. Peter slept in 
the dungeon of the castle while his would-be murderers 
could not rest. Daniel was quiet and in full serenity 
of spirit in the den of lions. It was the King who had 
him put in who " cried out with a lamentable voice,*' 
while Daniel's voice was strong and courageous as he 
said, (i O King, my God can deliver me."' 



246 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Do you know what Christ said we must do under 
persecution? Maybe you have not read it. Here it is : 
"When men shall revile you and persecute you and 
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for 
my sake — rejoice and be exceedingly glad!" and in 
another place He says, "Leap for joy !" 

One only need look at the sufferings of the apostles 
to see that they were much happier than the men who 
beat them. The Bible says the disciples rejoiced, 
while their tormenters raged and gnashed their teeth. 
Stephen had a better time than the howling mob who 
stoned him to death. When they laid hands upon him 
his face w T as like that of an angel, and in the midst of 
the shower of rocks and stones that were cracking the 
bones and staving in skull and body, he prayed for 
them and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," fell 
gently to sleep. Paul after his stoning, went into town 
and comforted the disciples. Wonder upon wonder. 
He did the comforting; the man who had been drag- 
ged out of the city and pelted with great stones until 
all thought he was dead. The martyrs all died rejoic- 
ing whether thrown to wild beasts, crucified or burned 
at the stake. Wesley was happier far than the ecclesi- 
astics who slandered him in print and stirred up mul- 
titudes to mob him. And so it has been all along, is 
now, and ever shall be, the man or woman persecuted 



THE PULL JOY. 247 

for righteousness sake is always happier than the per- 
secutor. 

I had a preacher friend who received this fullness of 
joy or sanctification. From that hour he had trouble 
with his Conference. In addition to trials and oppo- 
sition of every kind, he was openly denounced and 
ridiculed on the conference floor, one preacher saying 
that he would rather have the devil turned loose on his 
circuit than this same brother. At this moment a 
number of eyes were turned toward the corner where 
sat the abused but silent man of God. and it was noticed 
that his face had the light of a strange, sweet peace 
upon it, and that he evidently was the happiest man in 
the conference room. In a word when Jesus sees one 
of His servants suffering for Him, He instantly flies to 
his side and talks with him. The three in the fire 
increase to four, and the form of the fourth is that of 
the Son of God. So blessed and heavenly is that com- 
munion, so absorbed is the persecuted man in what 
Christ is saying that he forgets or neglects to hear what 
his persecutors are talking about. 

Fifth, It is the joy of standing alone for God. 

Some of you know the gladness of standing for God 
in company with others. I grant you that this also is 
blessed. It always brings a reward to the breast to 
be on the side of right and truth. But did you know 
that there was a peculiar rapture and blessedness in 



248 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

standing alone for the Lord? Because of the difficulty 
of so doing there had to be, and ought to be a special 
reward in spiritual things for the position and life of 
solitary faithfulness. 

If the sight moves us, how must it effect God to see 
an individual true to Him, though family friends and 
all men fall away. Do not think of repining because 
of such a state of affairs. Christ marks the devotion 
and will bless. He sees His follower unappreciated in 
the home circle, isolated by the church, and rejected 
by the world, and yet standing true to Him in face of it 
all. For such a soul He has the sweetest and holiest 
joy of the other world for compensation. 

You may think some of you that you have great hap- 
piness in the Christian life with big conventions, church 
societies, great union revivals, while you keep step in 
the rank and file, led by the music of the band. It is 
all right, I say nothing against it ; but I tell you there 
is a joy in standing alone for God that for depth and 
purity and rapture has never entered some of your 
minds to conceive. 

I see the Saviour in the Temple Court beringed with 
Pharisees and Elders trying to entrap and find cause of 
accusation against him. He stood alone for his Father, 
and yet that solitary One speaks of a joy that no man 
could take from him. 



THE FULL JOY. 249 

I see John in exile on Patmos. But oh the rapture of 
opening heavens, visions of the golden-paved, jasper- 
walled city, and the thrilling communion and glorious 
visible presence of the Son of God. Surely he lost 
nothing for being lonely for the sake of Christ. 

I recall once in my life that I was led of God to up- 
hold a great truth in a large city which brought the 
newspapers down on me, made my Board of Stewards 
petition me not to preach on the subject, and caused 
hundreds of people to turn against me. I saw it all 
and accepted the loneliness for Jesus' sake, and in my 
room, before the delivery of a second sermon on the 
subject I was so filled with the Holy Ghost, that I was 
unable for several hours to do anything but cry, Glory 
— Glory — Glory to God! Alone, and yet not alone. 
On Patmos, but Heaven in full view. 

Sixth, It is the joy of constant victory. 

The joy of a single victory is great. Men love to 
recall and speak of the successful combat in boyhood 
against great odds. They love in old age to tell how 
they downed after a hard contest the bully of the 
school. Samson turned aside to see the carcase of the 
lion he had slain some weeks before. He found it full 
of honey and went down the road eating some of the 
sweet dripping comb. In like manner we love to sur- 
vey the victory of the past, and it is always full of 
sweetness. The greater and nobler the victory the 



250 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

sweetet the reflection. And as the mightiest foes are 
found and greatest battles fought in the moral life, so 
a victory won on that field is the most blessed of all 
triumphs and affords the deepest joy. A single victory 
won there is always pleasant to recall. But what 
if we obtain a blessing that brings us constant victories 
over all kinds of foes and at all times. What an ex- 
perience that would be, a joy made up of a countless 
succession of joys; and all this gladness springing 
from perpetual victory over self and sin through the 
blood of Christ as realized in the grace of sanctification. 

In such a life as this, dead lions full of honey are 
found everywhere, strewn along not only the days but 
the hours. The soul is flushed, the heart sings, the 
lips shout over constant and countless triumphs in the 
spiritual life. Walls crack and fall, seas open, rivers 
divide, and devils fear and fly. We are not only con- 
querors, but more than conquerors through Him who 
loves us and dwells in us. Hallelujah! 

There is, thank God, a victory side to our blessed 
Christianity. Men have been slow to realize it, but 
they are finding it out at last. There is no need to 
have a single defeat. Christ is greater than the devil. 
Grace abounds over sin. Heaven is mightier than 
hell. The blood cleanses from all sin and keeps us 
pure as well. Jesus is mighty to save. He is not 
only the uttermost Saviour but the innermost outer* 



THE FULL JOY. 251 

most and uppermost Saviour. Through Him we can 
do all things. And so the triumphs take place and we 
live on "the victory side," and with the victory of 
course comes the joy. 

Did any one ever study the difference between de- 
feated and victorious armies? Who that read the 
newspaper acccounts of the late Turkish and Grecian 
war but could through the very type see and feel the 
despondency of the defeated retreating troops, and the 
joy and enthusiasm of the advancing hosts. 

There was once a European war. Two reporters 
were sent the field, one on either side. One was with 
the victorious army, the other with the side which was 
falling back. The letters of these two reporters were 
studies as to contrasts. Both were passing through 
the same country, along the same roads, viewing the 
identical scenery. But one wrote that it was a melan- 
choly looking land, with nothing to cheer the eye or 
hold in pleasant recollection. The other wrote that the 
landscapes were lovely, the tints on the mountains 
exquisite, the skies blue, the woods vocal with singing 
birds, and the fields beautiful and gay with wild 
flowers. The explanation was that the first man was 
with a defeated and retreating army, and the second 
was with a victorious and advancing one. 

Every day nearly I see these two reporters repro- 
duced in the Christian life, The sad and the glad are side 



252 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

by side in the same family, church or community. If 
the truth were known, one is falling back, the other 
pressing forward. The drooping spirits infallibly de- 
clare the fact of moral defeat in heart and life. Men 
and women may plead ill-health and other things as 
the cause, but the truth is that the soul is not on the 
victory side as it can and should be. 

When we obtain the blessing which as Paul says, 
"Always causeth us to triumph," then the whole life 
is vitalized afresh, the soul is filled with melody, the 
lips overflow with praise, and the very face in its rested, 
happy look tells of a great indwelling gladness. We 
view the same scenes, pass through the same hours, 
have the same besetments and difficulties, but instead 
of retreat it is advance with the soul, and instead of 
defeat there is constant victory. Hence the joy. 

Seventh, and finally, it is the joy of full salvation. 
There is a Christian life that is notable for its man- 
fear, irritability and fluctuation. There is another 
which is remarkable for its sweetness, boldness and 
steadfastness. The Bible speaks of both, and life and 
experience tell of both. We find that just as the dis- 
ciples were metamorphosed on the Day of Pentecost 
and became like new men, so there is a blessing which 
purifies and empowers the believer to-day and fills him 
with a joy unspeakable and full of glory. All who 
come into this grace 3 whether agreeing upon terms or 



THE FULL JOY. 253 

not as to its proper title, unite in the belief through a 
common experience that they possess a full salvation. 
It is not simply a free, but a full salvation. It is not 
only enough for those who have it, but they have an 
overflowing abundance which flows out to others. This 
full salvation brings a steady peace, an abiding assur- 
ance, a mighty confidence in God, a constant reliance 
on the blood, a continuous victory over sin and Satan, 
a rejoicing evermore, a praying without ceasing, and 
in everything a giving of thanks. 

This is full salvation. This is what Christ prayed 
that we might have. And when a man has it, his joy 
is bound to be full, and better still it will remain. 

V\ T hen the people of God obtain this grace, then will 
Zion arise and shine ; then will salvation be seen in 
her like a lamp that shines and like a fire that burns. 
Filled with this holy, quenchless joy, the church will 
draw the people to her like doves to the windows, 
nations will be born in a day, continents will wheel 
into line and the kingdoms of this world will become 
the kingdoms of our God and His Christ. 



X. 

KINDNESS. 

"And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of 
Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him? And 
Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is 
lame on his feet. "— II. Samuel, 9: 3. 

WE OFTEN hear David ridiculed and sneered at, 
and yet, with the exception of one act of iniq- 
uity, it is hard to find a lovelier character in the 
Bible. I wonder, leaving out this one great sin of his life, 
how his critics would look when measured by him and 
his life which was so filled with beautiful and noble deeds. 
Where will we find a more courageous man, who feared 
not bear, lion or giant? Who of our acquaintances ever 
equalled his liberality? In his one gift to the temple 
he gave more than all the churches of the United States 
combined in a year. Then what loyalty to God, what 
devotion to a friend and what magnanimity to an 
enemy who was placed in his power ! In addition to 
all these graces of his character, I have been deeply 
impressed with the kindness of the man. It is this 
that the text speaks of. 

By kindness I mean the outward expression of a 
heart that is filled w r ith love. It is not only a spirit of 
interest in people, with a manner of gentleness, but a 

254 



KINDNESS. 255 

life filled with deeds of benevolence. The heart is not 
only pitiful, but goes forth in acts of mercy and help 
of every kind. Kindness shows itself in deeds of con- 
sideration for others, and stands continually revealed 
in deportment, disposition, language and action. 

It is not the practice of saying oily, pleasant things. 
I have known such people, and their hearts knew not 
the love I am speaking about, and their lives proved it. 
The smooth, inoffensive speech of w T orldly policy is 
not kindness. Many deeds done and paraded in the 
newspapers is not kindness. There must be a union 
of heart and hand for the birth of this beautiful spirit 
of w r hich I am speaking. Many acts of private and 
public benevolence claimed to be the offspring of the 
kind heart will have the veil stripped from them at 
the last day, and we see that which looked so well 
outw r ardly was done through fear, or self-interest, or 
hope of reward, or for public recognition and favor. 

The Bible puts kindness dow T n as a fruit of the Spirit. 
It is undoubtedly an outflow of the character, and rep- 
resents the habitual poise and condition of the soul. 
There were some striking peculiarities about the kind- 
ness of David, to w r hich I call your attention. 

1. IT W T AS AX EVIDENCED KINDNESS. 

There is a good deal in this thought. I hear many peo- 
ple saying of themselves and others that they have kind 



256 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

hearts, when there is nothing in the life to prove it. If 
we must believe the statements made about us, there 
are more kind hearts than kind lives. As I once heard 
a young man in my theological class say to the exam- 
iner, " I have the answer in me but cannot get it out ; " 
So there seems to be a kindness that abides within and 
is unable to come forth. Decidedly unlike the life of 
Jesus, who went abroad doing good. 

A gentleman who had been much in the world said 
he had lived in twenty different families, and in only 
three did he see kindness practiced. Seventeen of them 
doubtless thought they had it, but believed in keeping 
it out of sight. 

The remarkable feature of David's kindness was that 
it became visible. When a certain neighboring king died 
he sent messengers at once to offer sympathy and con- 
solation to the son. When Abner was murdered he 
even fasted and wept over the untimely death of the 
great warrior. And here in the text and chapter we see 
him interested in and helping a poor, unfortunate crip- 
ple, the son of Jonathan. His kindness showed itself. 

I, for one, say, let me have a kindness that is visi- 
ble, audible and tangible. Save me from a love that 
says it exists but stands off and does not reveal itself. 
Truly such was the pity of the priest and Levite who 
looked at the wounded traveler, sighed, shook their 
heads and went on. This world wants, and you and I 



KINDNESS. 267 

desire and need a kindness that picks us up, pours 
wine and oil into our wounds, puts us on the beast, 
carries us to the inn, and pledges itself to still further 
assistance in case of continued need and helplessness. 

2. IT \VAS A KINDNESS THAT SOUGHT FOR OBJECTS. 

Hear the text : " Is there not one ' ' w r hom I can help? 
Where is he? And then David sends for him. 

There is a love in this world that is only stirred when 
the object of pity is before the eyes. We have all seen 
this love. It lets men starve and freeze around us, and 
then sigh over it as we read the morning paper account 
of how individuals w^ere found frozen to death in gar- 
rets, or on door-steps in the street. It allows the 
heathen to go without the Gospel, when if they could 
see them this help w r ould be given. 

Mr. Beecher, by causing a slave girl to stand by his 
side in the pulpit, raised over a thousand dollars to 
redeem her, when the plain statement of the case with- 
out the object lesson would have failed. David did not 
wait for the poor, crippled Mephibosheth to stand be- 
fore him to give him help, but sent messengers to find 
him. 

I wonder if any of you ever started out some day 
determined to find and relieve any suffering that might 
be about you— a regular crusade against misery and 
trouble? You have heard of people going out for a 



258 BEVIVAL SERMONS. 

day's sport, to find pleasure. But think of going forth 
to discover cases of need and sorrow. It would be a 
Christlike, though a very unusual proceeding. Listen 
to me! I have seen people go out to seek pleasure 
and come back in sorrow, and I have known them to 
go forth to find sorrow in order to relieve it and re- 
turn overflowing with joy. This is one of the para- 
doxes of the spiritual life. 

Some one gave Mr. Wesley five pounds one evening. 
He immediately went out on the streets of London, 
asking God to guide him to those who needed relief. 
The result of that evening's walk forms one of the most 
entertaining passages in the history of the founder of 
our church. It is all described in his journal. Suffice 
it to say, among a number of things, he kept a man 
from being imprisoned for debt and restored him to his 
weeping wife, and saved a man from dying in a tene- 
ment house, where he was rapidly sinking from lack of 
food and attention. The man proved to be a merchant 
who had been ruined by a false friend. Mr. Wesley 
secured him business again, the man prospered, became 
wealthy, and founded in his old age an asylum for 
broken-down and ruined business men. Strange to say, 
one of the first men admitted into it was the man who 
had caused his bankruptcy in former years. 

As we look upon these things we say, Lord, give us 
a kindness like that of Wesley, and like that of David, 



KINDNESS. 259 

who went forth to seek objects of need. Both got their 
kindness from the Lord. They learned it from Him. 
In fact, the text calls it the kindness of God. 

There is a rocking-chair kindness, which sighs and 
is so sorry to hear of the want and woe of the world, 
and wipes its eyes and — rocks on. It is all very nice, 
but may the good Lord grant a human kindness that, 
like that of Jesus of Nazareth, does not stop with weep- 
ing over Jerusalem, but goes abroad everywhere doing 
good. 

3. IT WAS A KINDNESS THAT AROSE SUPERIOR TO REMEM- 
BRANCE OF PAST INJURY. 

Who was this Mephibosheth that David proposed to 
help. The Bible tells us the direct descendant of Saul, 
a man who had taken away his wife, driven him from 
his home, kept him starved in the mountains and had 
tried continually for years to take his life. All those 
pitiful laments in the Psalms, those wails over perse- 
cution and wrong and violence were extorted from him 
by the relentless and unreasonable hatred of Saul. 

And yet here is David saying, "Is there any of the 
house of Saul that I can shew- the kindness of God 
unto him." 

My brethren this man lived away back in the world's 
twilight, and we are Christians in the full noon of the 
dispensation of the Holy Ghost, and yet he is a rebuke 



260 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

to many of us. Men have laughed and sneered at 
David and yet his example here covers with shame 
many of his critics and judges. Doubtless some of you 
before me have been appealed to in behalf of certain 
cases and individuals, and you said, "No, his family 
had injured you, his people had talked about you; or 
their father had hurt your father ; or you had helped 
the man once and he proved ungrateful. So that 
you washed your hands of the whole matter. ' ' 

How beatiful and Christ-like Dvad's course appears 
by such conduct : " Is there not yet any of the house 
of Saul that I may shew the kindness of God unto 
him." The words sound lovelier to me every time I 
read them. They are worthy of being placed in the 
living rock. 

You and I have heard of such a motto as this, 
"Never forget a friend or forgive an enemy." I have 
heard it uttered by members of the church. I need 
hardly say that it is worthy of an Indian on the plains, 
or a Hottentot in his jungle, but hardly fitting from the 
lips of one saying he knows, loves and follows Christ. 
Jesus long ago said if we were kind to those who 
were kind to us we have done nothing more than 
heathens or publicans; then added, "Be ye therefore 
perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect" — and 
shows the perfectness He is speaking of is love when 



KINDNESS. 261 

He says, 'He maketh His sun to rise on the evil — and 
sendeth rain on the unjust." 

You have heard some of you the saying that is as true 
as the Gospel : "To return good for good is human-like ; 
to return evil for evil is beast-like; to return evil for 
good is devil-like ; but to return good for evil is God- 
like." 

This last was David's kindness. In fact he called it 
the kindness of God. He got it from God, and we can 
do the same, and must do the same if we say we are 
Christians and expect to see Christ in glory. 

4. IT WAS A KINDNESS EXHIBITED TOWARD A PITIABLE 
AND HELPLESS CASE. 

This Mephibosheth whom David helped was friend- 
less, penniless, homeless, throneless, and in addition 
to all that, a cripple. And yet this poor creature with- 
out influence and power, who could never return a 
single benefit, this almost last descendant of his enemy 
he takes to his own home, has him to eat at his table 
and becomes a father to him. Where are you my 
brethren who have been sneering at David. Do you 
not see now why God said, "He was a man after his 
own heart." 

Now please look and see what is considered, labeled 
and called kindness by people that you and I know. 



262 KEVIVAL SERMONS. 

Here is a wealthy gentleman living in your neighbor- 
hood in an elegant home. With his ample means he 
can command anything he desires, he does not need 
you or anything you can do and yet hearing of some 
slight indisposition on his part you go over anxiously 
inquiring after his health, and say, "Colonel, if there 
is anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to 
call upon me." He thanks you, but does not call on 
you. He does not need you, and you go away think- 
ing you have a kind heart. But just the same distance 
from your house to the Colonel's residence is another 
dwelling quite humble and unpretentious. In it is a 
man w T ho straightened for means and out of work, really 
needs a number of things you could do for him. But 
you somehow fail to knock at his door arid anxiously 
inquire after his health, and say, "If there is anything 
I can do for you please do not hesitate to call on me." 
Perhaps you are afraid he will call on you is the reason 
you do not go over to see him. 

Again, here is a wealthy, fashionable lady who has a 
slight headache from being up too late at an evening 
entertainment. Over you float, my sister, in becoming 
attire, with a silver waiter bearing some delicacies that 
you have prepared with your own hands, and with a 
face full of solicitude about this society invalid before 
you. You are admitted into an elegant bed-room with 
thick carpets and lace curtains and sit down in a rose- 



KINDNESS. 263 

wood rocker costing fifty dollars. The imaginary 
invalid with smelling salts at the nostril and buried in 
downy pillows languidly receives your voluble express- 
ions of concern, and when you leave sends the waiter 
with what you call delicacies upon it down to the 
kitchen, and the servants eat the ''delicacies'' or they 
are thrown into the slop. They have a cook over there 
that as a caterer and preparer of elegant dishes is far 
your superior. Meantime you wend your way w T ith a 
pleased smile thinking you have shown '''kindness" 
when the light of the Great Day will reveal that you 
exhibited "toadying." 

Just a few blocks from your house, and not as far as 
the home of the society invalid, resides a woman who 
is really sick. With a low, consuming fever and con- 
stant cough and bare larder and empty purse, she cer- 
tainly needs help, sympathy, cheering words and 
"delicacies," whether brought on a silver or iron 
waiter. But while you know about the case you do 
not go. It seems that your "kindness" cannot flour- 
ish in a place where the floors are bare, the chairs are 
rickety and things have a scraped and. empty appear- 
ance. It does not like untidy surroundings and per- 
sons w T ho are really sick. It thrives best when people 
have not much the matter with them, and where 
flowers, bird-cages, cushions, ottomans, lace and dam- 
ask curtains abound. This kind of kindness is very 



264 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

delicate and cannot survive the odor of hovels and the 
sight of rags. But we read that Jesus laid his hand 
upon the leper and those diseased in every way, and 
went among the abodes of squalor and vice; while 
David is here seen bringing close to himself a poor 
cripple. Surely there must be different sorts of kind- 
ness, and I cannot but pray for the kind that will stand 
the test of the Judgment Day. 

I have seen this so-called kindness appearing in 
another form. I have seen certain families in the church 
greatly given to running after and entertaining Bishops 
and other prominent men of the church. What royal 
dinings and feasts were prepared in their honor, while 
these christian hosts and hostesses deluded themselves 
with the thought that this was christian kindness. 

Jesus has long ago spoken on the subject and given 
particular direction, saying, "when thou makest a din- 
ner or supper call not thy rich neighbors, lest they also 
bid thee again and a recompense be made thee. But 
when thou makest a feast call the poor, the maimed, 
the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed; for 
they cannot recompense thee ; for thou shalt be recom- 
pensed at the resurrection of the just." 

This is true kindness, while the other is an exchange 
of civilities and worse still an actual investment with 
the certain expectation of being repaid in human favor, 
social influence and other like things. 



KINDNESS. 265 

Christ does not mean to say we cannot entertain our 
friends and have them eat with us; but he does not 
want us to be deluded with the idea that this is chris- 
tian kindness, and so try to deceive God and fool our 
own souls. 

How many beautifully written and elegantly per- 
fumed notes have been sent to families of wealth and 
position "expressing hopes" and "deeply regretting" 
and "always remaining," etc., etc., and the writers 
thought the note was a piece of materialized kindness. 
In a few months these same prominent families have 
been plunged into bankruptcy and are filled with sorrow 
and despair. Now is the time for the notes. This is 
the moment they want human presence and sympathy ; 
but alas, this is also the time those little perfumed notes 
cease to come ; they can only fly to homes where plenty 
and prosperity reside. Hear a parable said Christ and 
told of a man w T ho fell among theives and lay wounded 
on the highway, and how he was treated by different 
people. Christian kindness follows up the ruined 
family and picks up the wounded traveler. 

I once saw another form of so-called kindness. A 
rich man was going North to be absent about a month 
or so, and left his dog with a family to take care of for 
him. That dog fairly took the house ; he tore up and 
down the stairs, upset the furniture, and selected the 
divans and sofas for his beds. Meantime the family 



266 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

praised the dog; he was so cunning, so lovely, so saga- 
cious, so nice and so everything. Sometimes these 
praises would be interrupted by a crash produced by 
this same canine mischief maker, and there was con- 
siderable skepticism in the minds of visiting neighbors 
about the degree of devotion to that dog felt by his 
entertainers. There was a lurking suspicion that no 
one but a rich man's dog would be allowed to upset 
things in that tidy home. And yet they were trying 
to persuade themselves that it was pure kindness at 
the bottom of the whole affair. 

In the immediate neighborhood, a gentleman picked 
up a poor little deserted child and carried it to his 
home and cherished it as one of his own, when lo, this 
family that entertained the dog were the first to criti- 
cize and condemn the proceeding. But which of the 
two deeds was kindness? The family that entertained 
the dog knew that his rich owner would bring them a 
handsome present; while the man who took care of 
the waif was perfectly aware that there could and would 
be no earthly pay or compensation for what he did. 
The child had been completely abandoned and was 
utterly friendless. 

The kindness which God loves and promises to reward 
is that, where we help those who in their misery and 
poverty cannot recompense us. It is a ministry to the 
"poor, maimed, lame and blind. " It is well called the 



KINDNESS. 267 

kindness of God, for this is like God. Hence Christ 
says, Be perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect 
who sends the rain on the unjust, and giveth to all men 
and upbraideth not. 

5. IT WAS A KINDNESS EXERCISED IN THE LIFETIME OF 
THE RECIPIENT. 

This is an exceedingly important feature of the grace 
I am talking about, and is always the mark of real 
kindness. I notice that David did what he could for 
the poor, crippled Mephibosheth while he was alive. 
He did not wait for him to die before becoming inter- 
ested in him as we have seen some people do. 

If ever we are to help broken-hearted people it must 
be now and here, for in Heaven they have no sorrow- 
ing spirits. If ever we are to give material aid and 
sympathy and comfort it must be on earth, for in the 
skies there is no lack of bread, and God has wiped the 
tears from all faces. They do not need our comfort up 
yonder. The earth, with its widespread misery, and 
time, with its countless woes and afflictions, is the 
place and hour for the exercise of the love we profess 
to have for individuals and the whole human race. 
The Georgia evangelist, speaking of heavenly recog- 
nition, said it was earthly recognition he wanted, and 
that it must be given now, for when he was in heaven 



268 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

he would be in such a blessed condition he would not 
care whether he was recognized by people or not. 

Everything points to this earth and the time in which 
we live to prove our love in the exhibition of kindness ; 
and yet some people are letting this one opportunity 
of eternity go by unimproved forever. It can never be 
recalled. This is our only probation. We pass this 
way no more forever. And yet these classes I speak of 
are allowing this one chance to do good and be kind to 
pass by eternally. 

Many wait for people to die before suddenly getting 
interested in their troubles, struggles, reverses and 
calamities. When the news gets out what a burden the 
man had, and how he finally sunk under it, oh ! the sub- 
dued whispers around the coffin, or the remark in the 
street, "Poor fellow ! I would have helped him if I had 
only known it." Well, why did we not know it? The 
reason is we have the funeral kindness instead of the 
kindness David possessed. We wait for the man to 
die, while David sought the man to help him many 
years before his burial. 

There was once a suicide of one of my church mem- 
bers. He could not meet his obligations, and in des- 
pair took his own life. I heard several well-to-do men 
remark, I wish I had known it, I would have helped 
him. They suddenly became kind while looking at 
the silent form of what was once a fellow church mem- 



KINDNESS. 269 

ber and steward, who, in the weary struggle for bread, 
could not keep up, and so fell. 

I have noticed at the funerals conducted by societies 
and fraternities that they march around the dead body 
of their dead comrade, and, each one throwing a piece 
of arbor vitse or cedar into the grave, will say, "Alas, 
my brother!" I have thought as I witnessed this 
scene of hollow and belated pity, and looked at the 
white face in the coffin and the unmistakable lines 
showing what a struggle life had been to him — I have 
thought that if these same men had taken the time to 
have said this to the man when alive, "Alas, my 
brother!" and grasped his hand in encouragement and 
help, that likely he would not be in the coffin, but 
still in the world, the breadwinner and loving central 
figure of the family circle. 

I have known a church to allow its pastor to suffer 
for the needful things of life, and when his wife and 
child died from the result of a life of hardship, imme- 
diately became kind and paid all the funeral expenses ! 

I have known a husband to neglect his wife in his 
pursuit of pleasure or business, and when finally she 
died he wrung his hands over her dead body, called 
her his angel wife, said his heart was broken and home 
desolate, and climaxed the whole by having a very 
costly funeral and having built over the unconscious 
body the finest marble monument in the graveyard. 



270 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

She asked for love and he gave her a stone. And 1 
thought as I pondered over the whole scene that if some 
of the loving words he w r as pouring into the dead ear 
had been uttered in life, and if some of the dollars he 
had spent on the coffin had been invested in a w r ay to 
make life and body easier and less toil-worn, she would 
have been the happy-faced w T ife and mother of the 
home circle instead of sleeping alone under the cedars 
and among the white monuments on the hillside. 

What we want is kindness in life and not in death. 
It is not flowers scattered on her coffin-lid that will 
make a woman happy, but a bunch of them tied to- 
gether in the form of a bouquet and given her with the 
words "I love you." That makes her pulses leap, the 
crimson come into her cheek, the light into her eye 
and the warm happy feeling rush to her heart. 

We want kindness shown us in life. This is what 
our friends want ; this is what our servants look for ; 
this is what the children need — they crave to be treated 
gently and kindly in life, not wept over in death. Hearts 
everywhere, cry " treat me lovingly now." When 
dead we do not hear the cries of affection around the 
coffin, or feel the tears dripping from overflowing eyes 
on our faces. Be kind now. 

There are some people who, if they had heard of 
Mephibosheth, w T ould have said, " Poor fellow!" — and 
that would have been all; and when he died would 



KINDNESS. 271 

have spoken again and said, " Poor soul, he is at rest!" 
But David tried to give him some rest before he went 
to heaven. He believed in lightening his burdens and 
brightening his life while he had life to receive and 
appreciate such treatment. 

Some of you have taken notice of the invalid who 
falters on the street or gets feebly on the cars. Now 
is the time to speak kindly to him and offer him youi 
hand or arm. He will soon be gone ; we had better be 
quick or it will be too late. You have noticed a sad- 
looking woman at the church. Offer her some gentle 
courtesy before she passes out of your life. She is part 
of a vast procession constantly moving on, and it is 
now or never with us if we desire to make a heavy 
heart a little lighter and biighter. 

You have an old father or mother at home. Be kind 
to them. Run and open the door or gate for them. 
Leap to bring them a chair. Their lives need human 
cheering. They have seen many sorrows, wept over 
many dear dead faces, seen the friends of youth disap- 
pear, and are feeling lonelier every year that passes. 
Be loving to them and brighten their few remaining 
days; they will soon be gone. 

You have a little boy or girl at home. You have 
been thinking for some time you would be kinder, stay 
home of evenings, take part in their games, and make 
their little lives happier. You had better be quick 



272 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

about it, for the little fellows will not be with you 
long. 

I read once a paragraph clipping called u Our Dear 
Boy." It was a pen picture of a father and mother 
sitting by the fireside alone listening to the autumn 
winds outside, while the little boy, who was once the 
light of the home, was asleep in the cemetery. They 
used to think he was noisy and in the way, but how 
they now wanted him back. Oh, if he was only there 
to tease them for his knife again, or to beg them to fly 
his kite, or to tie the door-knob up with cords and 
strings, and track the hall with his little muddy shoes. 
Sometimes the father would start up with his heart 
beating, thinking that he had heard the precious voice 
outside on the street, but would sink back again with 
a groan, remembering the little grave on the hillside. 

There are some men listening to me to-day w r hose 
hearts are going to be wrung this same way one of 
these days. You do not go home and spend the even- 
ings with your family as you once did. The political 
club, the social club, the secret society and fraternity 
are drawing you away from the family circle that 
loves you better than any one else in the world. Your 
little boy often asks for you in the evening. ' w Where 
is papa, mama?" C4 Will papa come home to-night, 
mama?" And when he is going to bed ? and kneels 



KINDNESS. 273 

down to say his prayers, he say " God bless papa," 
and that night dreams of you. 

They will tell you all these things about him when 
he is dead; how he used to talk about you, sit up with 
heavy eyelids for you, miss you aud go to bed discon- 
solate without you. Oh, how I pity you, my brother, 
when these things come to pass in your life and make 
a burden of sorrowful memory that you will bear the 
rest of your life ! 

In the name of God I arraign the saloon, the politi- 
cal club, and the secret societies, lodges and fraterni- 
ties for the cause of such loneliness on the one side and 
misery on the other. I accuse them as being the cause 
of lonely, neglected and deserted homes all over the 
land. 

God help us to be kind to those who have a claim 
upon our love in this present world. They do not need 
our attentions in the world to come. God save us from 
throwing anything of this w r orld between us and the 
love and duty we owe to our homes and loved ones. 

6. IT IS SUCH A KINDNESS AS MAKES BELIEVERS OUT 

OF SINNERS. 

Mere civilities, attentions, and general politeness 
will impress men agreeably, but never convince them 
of the truth, presence and power of Christianity. What 
is needed is more than this. It is kinndnss, and* the 



274 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

text says the kindness of God. That is a kindness like 
that of God. A loving heart going forth on a life of 
sympathy, consolation, benevolence and assistance of 
every kind. 

Politeness is of this world, but the kindness I speak 
of is of Heaven. Men know it intuitively, and God 
likewise testifies to it. Moreover it invariably im- 
presses the world. 

When Stephen, who was being stoned, cried, "Lord 
lay not this sin to their charge," he did more to con- 
vince the world of the truth of Christianity than by all 
the many sermons he had preached in his ministry 
prior to this time. 

When Robert Raikes gathered the poor and ragged 
children of his town about him and taught them the 
Bible on Sunday; when Muller took care of two thous- 
and helpless children in his homes of relief; when 
Wesley lived on one article of food for many months in 
order to feed the poor; then these men did more to 
prove that Jesus had arisen from the dead and was 
living in human hearts and had all power on earth, than 
any volumes of Christian evidence that was ever writ- 
ten. God's best volume of Christian evidence is six 
feet long, eighteen inches broad, and bound in human 
skin. When this book is filled with kindness it is sim- 
ply overwhelming in convincing power. 



KINDNESS. 275 

I knew a man who raised twelve orphan children in 
the course of his life. Somehow it was hard not to 
believe in Jesus in the presence of such Christ-like 
work. 

I know a physician who not only visits the poor and 
gives free treatment, but leaves five dollar bills under 
the pillow when he sees signs of financial distress. 
Somehow the heart feels that Christ did certainly rise 
from the dead when this man is around; and his beau- 
tiful life and spirit scatter doubt and infidelity before 
him, like fogs and vapor leave before a clear crisp 
morning breeze. 

Two memories come forcibly to my mind. One man 
had greatly wronged another. The injured man after 
a lapse of months had suddenly disclosed to him the 
corrupt private life of the other. With a few words he 
could have driven him from his church and family. 
But these words he never spoke. 

Again, we knew T of a great injury wrought by one 
man on another. The injured man left it all with God. 
In less than two years, the injurer came to the man 
whom he had wronged, in great distress, and said, "You 
can help me," The party addressed said, "God bless 
you I will do the best I can for you." 

Verily, this is the kindnsss of God. This is like the 
Being who sends his sunshine and rain upon the un- 
thankful and evil. In fact it came from God. It is 



276 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

not indigenous to our nature, but is an exotic from 
Heaven and planted in the soil of our hearts by the 
hand of the Lord Himself. If anything on earth will 
convince men that Jesus was born in this world, died, 
rose again, and has returned to live in human souls, 
it will be the kind of life we have been trying to 
sketch. And verily it does convince. 

Recently I heard a gentleman describe a scene that 
took place on a street of one of our Northern cities. 
He said a small lad had a basket of apples and oranges 
which he was trying to sell. He was a pale-faced, 
delicate looking boy, and as it turned out was the main 
support of a helpless mother, young and frail looking 
as he was. He seemed to be having but poor success, 
and the old-young face had an anxious look on it most 
unfitting for a child of his years. Suddenly, said the 
gentleman, a rough looking young man either design- 
edly or unwittingly in passing gave the basket a rude 
jar, knocked it from the arm of the lad and scattered 
the fruit on the muddy street in every direction. With 
a loud laugh the young man went on, while the boy 
seemed paralyzed with grief while great tears rolled 
down his cheeks. A gentleman in passing witnessed 
the whole scene, when instantly he stepped into the 
street and began picking up the apples and oranges, 
and after wiping them one by one with his handker- 
chief, placed them all in the basket, and capped the 



KINDNESS. 277 

beautiful act by placing a two dollar bill in the hands 
of the astonished lad. Then patting the boy on the 
head he was turning to leave when the child, with 
his tear-stained face filled with a look of wondering 
gratitude, and his voice shaking with the contending 
emotions in him, cried out : 

"Sir, are you Jesus?" 

I remember how my eyes filled when I heard the 
incident related, and saw as it seems I never saw 
before how we can project Christ before men, and secure 
an instantaneous homage and recognition of Jesus from 
them by acts and a life of kindness that would be seen 
in the Saviour if he was still here in the world. 

Lord make us kind. 

7. SUCH KINDNESS ALWAYS RETURNS TO THE HEART AND 
LIFE IN SOME WAY. 

The Scripture says, "Cast thy bread upon the 
waters; for thou shall find it after many days." It 
always comes back in some w r ay to body or soul, and 
I believe always to both. 

As for this present w r orld, if we could only know all 
that is going on, we w r ould see that no man does good 
without being blessed. So far as the heart is con- 
cerned w r e cannot afford, for our own sake, not to be 
good and kind to all. The light in the eye, the tender 
feeling in the heart, the swell of spirit and conscious 



278 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

enlargement of the nature with every noble deed, all 
agree in saying it pays to be good and kind. Moreover, 
the temporal benefit is also so frequently seen as to 
convince us that we are brought face to face with the 
working of a law, and that we are not contemplating 
exceptions. 

It is told of John B. Gough, that in the days of his 
intemperance a certain man kept lifting him up from 
the gutter and carrying him home with a persistent 
patience and love that was divine-like. The day came 
when Gough became a redeemed man and was sought 
after as a lecturer from end to end of the continent. 
Also the day came when the friend of John B. Gough 
died, and his family were left destitute. Then the 
tide of kindness turned the other way bringing the 
bread with it. This family never lacked as long as the 
famous temperance lecturer lived. 

Forty or fifty years ago, a poor boy came to New 7 
Orleans where he tried to make his living. A certain 
family gave him his start. In the course of time he 
became a wealthy man, and owned one of the hand- 
somest residences in the Crescent City. The house and 
grounds filled one entire square. He never married, 
and at his death left his large fortune to the family 
that had befriended him in the days of his poverty. 
The bread came back. 



KINDNESS. 279 

A Colonel in the Confederate army, whom I knew 
well, was falling back with his regiment after a signal 
defeat to our troops. It was a rapid retreat to save 
life, while the Federal cannon balls were plunging into 
their ranks. A wounded Federal soldier on the side 
of the road and burning up with the fever of a gun- 
shot wound, begged for water. To stop a minute in 
the wild stampede was equivalent to death or capture, 
which last meant a long confinement in northern 
prisons ending in sickness and death. But in spite of 
all the gallant Colonel stopped, lifted the head of the 
wounded man from the earth and placing his canteen 
to his lips let him drink to his satisfaction. Then 
leaping to his feet he resumed his flight and, strange 
to say, escaped amid a shower of balls. The wounded 
man got well, and finally found himself in a prominent 
governmental position in Washington. It was there 
years afterward he met the Confederate Colonel, 
now an applicant for an important and lucrative ap- 
pointment in the South, and having great influence at 
the White House, he secured for him the place that 
otherwise he could never have obtained. 

In a large camp ground in the South, there was one 
man who in point of labor and sacrifice in every 
way surpassed all the other stock and tent holders. 
He entertained great numbers of people free; he saw 
to everybody's comfort; he kept order on the grounds; 



280 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

he contributed liberally to all the temporal demands of 
the meeting; he advanced by his faithful devoted 
life every spiritual interest as well; and in a word 
saw to the general comfort and happiness of all. 
Here was the bread thrown on the waters and here 
was the way it came back. There was no one more 
blessed in soul on the ground than he. His cup was 
overflowing all the time. Nor was this all, every one 
of his children were soundly converted to God on this 
camp ground and stayed converted. 

So in some way the good deed always comes 
back to us. It is not only our duty to do good, but it 
is wise and best. It pays to be kind and good. 

As for the reward in the world to come, the Bible 
settles the matter beyond all question. 

Christ Himself tells us that not a cup of cold water 
given in the proper spirit shall ever lose its reward. 

It will be seen in the Great Day that deeds of kindness 
have been transmuted into blessings for the soul and 
shining glory for the body. In the final day of reward 
it will be seen by all, who was beneficent and philan- 
thropic, and who, like Jesus, went about continually 
doing good. Whether the life was prominent or ob- 
scure, whether the deed became public or remained 
unknown — yet recognition and the full reward shall be 
given in the Day of Judgment. 



KINDNESS. 281 

It will be a blessed hour to David when not only his 
munificent gifts to God shall be declared, but the sym- 
pathy and kindness of the man's nature shall be re- 
vealed in his message of consolation to a bereaved 
neighbor, and still more clearly seen in his tenderness 
and care for a poor, helpless cripple, the descendant of 
his greatest enemy. 

Many of the beautiful surprises of the Last Day will 
be seen along this line — of mercy given in the hour of 
victory, coals of fire heaped upon an enemy's head, and 
persistent kindness shown toward stubborn and immov- 
able natures. Not only God, but the gathered universe 
will say that such deeds and lives demand a reward, 
and better still, Christ Himself who is the Judge of that 
Day, declares that all such souls shall be rewarded. 

Surely a man will not regret in that hour that he 
possessed the spirit of Him who sent the rain and sun- 
light on the unthankful and evil, and that he had 
that beautiful divine life which has been so strikingly 
pictured in the words : 

"The patience of immortal love 
Outwearying mortal sin." 

8. HOW CAN WE POSSESS THIS SPIRIT AND LIFE OF 
KINDNESS? 

Of course this grace is not indigenous to the heart, 
but is an exotic brought to us by the Spirit from the 
skies, 



282 REVIVAL SEKMONS. 

There are imitations, it is true; there is a kindness 
paraded among men that will not stand the search- 
light of eternity. It is not a pure article ; self enters 
in, and double motives and ultimate purposes make an 
alloy which robs the act of its value. The genuine 
article of kindness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is 
so realized by the convert, who also wonders why it is 
not a perfect and perpetual fruit, but that some days 
he is conscious not only of an antagonistic or harden- 
ing power in his heart, but feels a spirit dominant at 
times that is directly opposed to kindness, a positive 
uprising of unkindness. The same antagonism is felt 
occasionally to every grace and fruit of the Spirit in 
the regenerated heart, and is an internal argument 
for the Baptism of Fire as a soul-cleansing work after 
we have become the children of God. 

When this great work is wrought we find the inter- 
nal difficulty is ended, and that we have actually " Put 
on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercies, kindness, 
humbleness of mind, meekness, long - suffering. " 

How easy it is to be gentle and kind now with inbred 
sin burned out and Christ abiding within all the time ! 
A tender feeling to enemies, a patience with opposers, 
a spirit of long suffering toward those of different minds 
and opinions, and above all a delightful experience of 
love for everybody now fills and overflows the soul. 
We have been moved by divine power into the thir-' 



KINDNESS. 283 

teenth chapter of First Corinthians ; we have obtained 
the perfect love that John writes so much about in his 
epistles, and we have received the grace which the 
bishops so urge upon young preachers at Conferences 
in the question, "Do you expect to be made perfect in 
love in this life?" 

Thank God that an ever-increasing number can say 
to-day all over the land : 

" I have found it, I have found it, 
That for which I've been in quest ; 
Satisfied are all my longings, 
Now I've found His promised rest." 



XI. 

COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 
"Ye are complete in Him." — Colossians, 2: 10. 

I LOVE the words of the text. They are so reassur- 
ing to the heart, and so comfortable every way. 
They speak of what we need, and better still, of 
what we can have through grace in the marvelous per- 
son of a being called Jesus Christ. 

We began life incomplete, and all through the years 
that followed we have been confronted with the sense 
and fact of lacking at every turn and stage of our exist- 
ence. As sinners we feel it powerfully, as regenerated 
people the realization is still in us, at the portals of the 
grave who is more helpless than man, and in eternity 
with this world gone and infinite space before him 
filled with rushing suns and systems, what can a 
human being with all his wisdom and strength do. 
Who will listen to his cry of distress at such a time, 
what world will stop in its flight to help him over the 
starry spaces, who will direct him to the throne of God, 
and who will plead for him when he is there. 

It is in the midst of this oppressive conviction of 
helplessness and nothingness that the words of the text 

come to us like a voice from the sky full of hope and 

284 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 285 

assuring power, "Ye are complete in Him." In other 
words He is everything to us. 

Let us see what there is in this sentence. 

1. CHRIST IS EVERYTHING IX THE TEMPORAL MERCIES 

OF LIFE. 

Men do not realize it, but the world rolls on to-day 
with its seasons and harvests, its fruits and flowers, for 
the sake of Christ. We have as individuals and a race 
forfeited every right to a single temporal mercy by our 
transgressions. Adam turned out of the Garden of 
Eden, shut out from its beauties and pleasures and 
kept out by the waving sword of the flaming Cheru- 
bim, illustrates what I mean. 

It is not for our sake that the earth yields her in- 
crease, but for Christ's sake who kept the Law. What 
have we done to merit anything from God through 
nature. Faithless in our stewardship and Justice is 
ever crying out that we be ejected and banished. 

It is for Christ's sake that the world rolls on through 
space, the sun shines, the winds waft our ships and 
cool our cheeks, the valleys laugh with corn, the cattle 
roam on a thousand hills and the fruit drops from the 
laden bough. The very breath is in the nostril and 
the heart beats on because of what Christ did for us on 
Calvary. How few seem to realize these things. How 



286 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

few seem to take in the thought that we are living 
to-day because Christ died for us. 

2. CHRIST IS EVERYTHING IN THE WAY OF SALVATION. 

It is so hard to get men to see this. They are slow 
to grasp the blessed truth that God has not placed our 
redemption in a set of laws or maxims, but in a person 
called Jesus. To accept him is to obtain salvation. 

In the early history of the American Colonies, the 
Mother Country sent out Colony Ships for their relief. 
In this vessel would be food, medicine ammunition, 
arms, clothing, and in a word everything that they 
needed. The Colonists in time of want would stand 
on the sea banks and gaze over the waves toward Eng- 
land, hoping and praying for deliverance. The day 
would finally come when the sail of the coming ship 
would appear like a white spot on the horizon, and no 
language could describe the joy that filled the hearts 
of the people at the sight. Everything they needed 
was on board of that vessel ; who wonders they were 
glad. 

Christ is the Colony Ship sent out from Heaven to 
this starving, dying w T orld. There is nothing we want 
but can be found in the Saviour. We are complete in 
Him. He who has gone oftenest to Christ, and he who 
has drunk deepest at the Fountain of Life and Salva- 
tion knows this to be true. 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 287 

It is true of pardon. 

There is no other way of being saved except through 
Christ. He is our righteousness. He is our justifier; 
not our works ; and not ourselves. Is it not strange that 
men build hopes on their liberality, on their morality, 
on their church membership, and on the religious 
lives of their wives and scores of other things, when 
salvation is in none of them, but in the person 
Christ. 

It matters not what a man has done or left undone; 
let him throw the arms of prayer and faith about the 
Saviour and say, I have no hope but in thee, I take 
thee as my present Saviour and justifier, and lo, the 
work will be done and a consciou ; salvation will stream 
into his soul. It is vain to look for it anywhere else. 
It is only in Christ. 

It is true of reclamation. 

Many Christians fall into darkness and sin, and back- 
slide. It is amazing to see them in their various efforts 
to return to God treading every way but the right way. 
It is generally by the route of penance and works they 
try to come back, while the meaning of the words, 'Ye 
are complete in Him," seem utterly to have escaped 
them. Jesus Christ, our Colony Ship, brought the 
blessing of reclamation with Him. If we go astray we 
will never get right unless we come to Him. If this 
was not so we could not say we are complete in Him, 



288 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

We knew a lady who had lost her religious experi- 
ence as a justified woman. Instead of coming to Christ 
she tried for years to work herself back by a life full of 
Christian activity. She especially gave herself up to 
the work of visiting the sick and poor ; but the whole time 
her heart was like lead. One night in one of my meet- 
ings she rushed forward to the altar and sought recov- 
ery by faith in Christ, and instantly found it. With a 
face fairly blazing, she fronted the audience and cried, 
"This is what I have been seeking for years. I tried 
to get back to Christ by Christian work, and for three 
years I have walked my feet sore in seeking rest for my 
heart, but I could not find it. To-night I found per- 
fect forgiveness and healing for my backsliding in a 
single moment in Jesus." We began to see what Paul 
meant when he said, Ye are complete in Him. 

It is true of sanctification. 

What does the Scripture say here? " Jesus Christ 
made unto us — sanctification.*' Is it not strange that 
men, after reading in the Word of God that Christ is 
our sanctification, should persist in the pursuit of holi- 
ness by growth in grace or by goodworks. " foolish 
Galatians who hath bewitched you — are ye so foolish? 
Having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect 
by the deeds of the flesh?" 

If a store should announce that every article and 
commodity in it would be sold for a dollar apiece, it 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 289 

would be simply loss of time and folly beside to go 
there expecting anything with fifty, seventy, ninety, 
or even ninety-nine cents in your hands. The un- 
bending rule of the store was one dollar for each 
article. To break the rule would be productive of 
endless confusion, and, according to that rule faithfully 
applied, I would be as powerless to get anything with 
ninety- nine cents as another with a copper cent. 

So what folly and loss of time is seen all about us 
to-day in the spiritual life, where individuals are seek- 
ing sanctification in ways other than through Christ 
and Christ alone. How silly and vain to present works 
and growth as the price of the blessing, when the Bible 
so distinctly says that Christ has been made sanctifi- 
cation unto us. He is the price. Present Him, and 
the glorious grace will be put instantaneously in the 
heart. And, just as in the store the merchant cared 
not who brought the dollar, he scarcely stopped to see 
whether it was a man or woman, boy or girl, but who- 
ever presented the price obtained the goods. So in re- 
gard to the blessing of which I speak; it matters not 
who comes, male or female, young or old, black or 
white, ignorant or learned— whoever brings Christ 
secures the blessing, and obtains it at once in all its 
satisfying and overflowing power. 

Salvation is in Christ, and not in something or some 
one else. It is not a part in Him and a portion to be 



290 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

found elsewhere. It is all in Him. No need to go 
anywhere than to Him who has all that we want in the 
matter of a perfect redemption. We are complete in 
Him. 

3. CHRIST IS EVERYTHING TO US IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

In this thought I pass from the great epochs of justi- 
fication, regeneration and entire sanctification to the 
life that follows these experiences. The man is a child 
of God, but is still on probation, having much to learn, 
much to unlearn, much to overcome, being surrounded 
by conditions of peril and assaulted oftentimes by the 
dark powers of hell. Sorrow and sickness shoot their 
arrows, friends forsake and betray, losses befall, disap- 
pointments take place and bereavements will spare no 
one. We are still needy and Christ is wanted as badly 
as ever. So He comes to us in His wonderful complete- 
ness to remedy our insufficiency and supply our lack 
in all things. 

If you will study your nature in its mental, moral 
and social aspects you will find certain wants and crav- 
ings that seem to be universal with the race. Only 
glance at these needs and see how Christ meets and 
relieves them. 

You need a friend. 

Even in chilhood you felt this want, and soon found 
your little confidant and playmate to whom you could 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 291 

tell your whole heart. In youth and manhood it has 
been the same ; people pair off with companions in the 
social life like birds. We need some one to unburden 
our hearts to ; we crave human sympathy and fellow- 
ship. And yet with all this there is a realization that 
our best friends cannot meet the deep longing of our 
hearts. They do not always listen to us, or under- 
stand us, and oftentimes are powerless to relieve the 
burdens within. And yet the longing for such a per- 
fect friend still remains. 

Thank God such a friend is found in Jesus. Our 
very unsatisfied yearnings, and disappointments moth- 
ers led us to Him. To our exquisite delight He proves 
to be what we have desired all our lives. He is ever 
near. He is always sympathetic. He never wearies 
of us, and never changes. He is always the same. 
Now it is that with such unbroken divine compan- 
ionship the old oppressive sense of loneliness and ennui 
becomes impossible. The very solitude has charms 
because of the abiding presence of this heavenly friend. 

I once landed as a youth in the city of New York 
looking for a situation or some kind of work. I will 
never forget the sense of loneliness and helplessness 
that came over me as I walked the streets of that vast 
metropolis unknown and without a friend. But sup- 
pose that when I came in sight of the twinkling city 
and stepped on one of the wharfs I had the name and 



292 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

address of a true friend, one who had wealth and in- 
fluence ; where would have been my forsaken solitary 
experience ; what would I have cared for the miles of 
brick walls and stone pavements and throngs of un- 
known people ? The face of a good loving friend in 
the city whose heart and home were open to me would 
have put a warm glad light over everything. 

In a much more perfect way can Christ, as our 
friend, take away not only the solitude of the city, but 
the loneliness of the desert itself. Some how with 
His voice at the ear, His hand on the life, and His pres- 
ence in the heart, this world looks like a new world; 
and so full of a delightful confidence and assurance, 
we press on through the years. 

You need a physician. 

There are many families that hardly feel complete 
without the doctor. He has been with them in sad 
hours, saved lives that were most precious to them and 
been consulted in trouble a thousand times. His very 
presence often rolled away burdens, and when he would 
turn with a pleasant smile upon the anxious faced 
group and say he could pull the patient through; 
how the heart warmed afresh to him, and you won- 
dered how any family could get along without such a 
man, 

I once saw a young mother trying to thank the old 
family physician for saving her child. The skill and 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 293 

experiences of the elderly man had, under God's bless- 
ing, restored the little one after a struggle of months 
for its life. The young mother was leaving the city., 
and called to say farewell to the doctor who had been 
with her in these and many other trying hours. She 
took his hand and looking up at him with streaming 
tears and choking voice said : 

" How can I thank you, doctor, for saving my 
child ?» 

She broke down in sobs unable to utter another 
word, while the tender parental look and love of this 
family friend and physician completed a picture of 
rare moral beauty and power. 

It is said of Dr. Meiggs, of Philadelphia, that he 
could not walk down certain streets without a number 
of people flocking around him whom he had relieved 
and blessed with his skill. 

It is also related of the Emperor of Germany, the 
grandfather of the present Kaiser, that he was always 
accompanied in the last years of his life by his physi- 
cian. This faithful medical friend watched every 
symptom, scrutinized every meal, and unquestionably 
by his care prolonged the king's life for years. 

In like manner we need a physician in the spiritual 
life. The soul may get hurt, the conscience wounded, 
the health of the spirit affected. We must have im- 
mediate help then or be undone. Again, Christ is seen 



294 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

to be everything to us in this new capacity. He is the 
physician of the soul. He knows how to cure its dis- 
eases, and arrest and expel instantly anything that 
might injure and destroy it. One of the questions 
asked in the Bible is why is the health of God's people 
not recovered? with the additional question, "Is there 
no physician there? " and "Is there no balm in 
Gilead?" 

Christ is the great physician of the soul, and well for 
the soul that He is. Such are the perils of the spirit- 
ual life, such the manifold diseases that threaten it, such 
the fiery darts of the wicked one, that nothing short of 
a heart physician of infinite skill and power would do 
for us. 

What has not Jesus, our physician, been to us and 
done for us? What prescriptions of grace and tonics 
of love He has administered that has made health pul- 
sate in the soul, sparkle in the eye and bound in every 
movement of the life? We have gone to Him with 
wounds from the tongues of friends and foes, and lo! 
with a touch, we were well. We have been called to 
duty with fagged brain, wearied body and sickened 
heart, when behold! His life-giving, health-restoring, 
strength-imparting hand was laid on us, and, with a 
shout of victory in the heart, we leaped to labor and 
success, to battle and victory. 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 295 

We need a lawyer. 

Many families have one employed all the time. 
Others have them occasionally. Few of us but will 
have need of one before leaving this world of wrong 
and oppression. 

It would be difficult to describe the tranquil, and 
even happy, feeling in a client's heart when he sits in 
his lawyer's office listening to him untangling his busi- 
ness affairs, or hear him in court with an irresistible 
logic and eloquence pleading in behalf of his property, 
or for life itself. 

It is not as true that w T e need a lawyer in earthly 
matters as that we must have one in the spiritual life. 
Our case is in bad shape to begin with. We were moral 
bankrupts every one of us. Then our follies have added 
to the confusion, entanglement and threatening ruin. 
The heart is in peril; the soul, left to itself, will cer- 
tainly be lost. What shall we do? Who will help us? 
John replies in his first epistle: "We have an ad- 
vocate (lawyer) w T ith the Father, Jesus Christ the 
righteous." 

He has already w r on our case in the lower courts, and 
is now T pleading for us in the higher. That our cause 
is getting along well w T e know from certain remittances 
of grace we keep receiving, from communications He 
personally sends us and from spiritual telegrams that 
keep coming, saying "All is well." 



296 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

What a comfort and joy it is, when we have made a 
grave mistake, to carry it at once to Christ and see 
Him straighten it out ; when we have given the devil 
the advantage, to go straightway to our advocate and 
see Him quash all the proceedings of hell against us ; 
when Satan has issued a writ for us, and thinks he has 
us, what a rapture to see Christ sue out a writ of habeas 
corpus and get us out of Doubting Castle Prison and 
from the clutches and power of the jailer, Giant Des- 
pair ! How He has won case after case for us and is 
still winning them. All that he requires of us is that 
we confess all, renounce the Devil, keep nothing back 
and leave the whole matter in His hands. This done 
the case is bound to be won. 

Peter's case was a grave one, but Jesus brought him 
through all right. He would in like manner have saved 
Judas, but that unhappy man did not go to Him, 
but underrating the value of atoning grace and the mar- 
vellous ability of the Advocate of sinners, fell in despair 
and committed suicide. The Day of Judgment will 
fairly astonish the universe in the revelation of how the 
Saviour delivered men and women from situations of 
moral peril and depths of darkest sin. While to-day 
many of our hearts are singing because our Advocate, 
Jesus Christ the righteous, took our cases in critical and 
despairing times, swept them triumphantly through 
every court on earth and in heaven, and has established 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 297 

us in great estates of spiritual wealth, rich and over- 
flowing with the grace of God, with titles to mansions 
in tho skies, corner lots in heaven, heirs to crowns and 
thrones in the coming kingdom, and now joyously 
waiting for the carriage and horses of fire that will be 
soon sent for us to carry us home. 

We need a captain. 

0, the strange and manifold needs of a Christian. A 
friend, physician and lawyer is not enough; we want a 
captain to fight our battles for us. We not only have 
sicknesses to be healed, and cases to be looked after 
and pleaded, but we have battles to be fought and 
victories to be won. 

Alas for the Christian who goes as his own general 
into the spiritual war. Defeat, disaster, capture and 
death are certain to come to such a man. Nothing 
short of omniscience and omnipotence is needed to win 
in a conflict w T here we war against fallen archangels and 
spiritual wickedness in high places. Here again is felt 
our helplessness and here again is seen Christ's suf- 
ficiency. He offers Himself as our leader, and says to 
us what He long ago uttered to Joshua, "As captain of 
the host of the Lord am I now come." If we go out 
without him to battle against self, men and devils we 
have nothing to look for but defeat and failure. If 
we follow Him, not an enemy will be able to stand 
before us. 



298 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

Many were the defeats I suffered until I took Jesus as 
my captain. I have undertaken protracted meetings in 
the early years of my ministry, trusting to human wis- 
dom, eloquence, methods and carnal weapons, when I 
would be routed and captured in some way before the 
first week was ended. Then I have turned heart- 
broken to Christ and elected Him captain, when with a 
shout He would appear, overturn in a moment all the 
opposition, striking conviction to sinners, terror to the 
heart of Satan and driving whole troops of devils back 
to hell. 

I remember once when I was a lad of eight years that 
the bully of the school, considerably older than myself, 
was beating me on the side-walk. He was making 
sure and painful work with me with a cudgel. There 
was no one near who dared to help me, and I could 
not help myself. Suddenly my older brother loomed in 
sight up the street, took in the situation with a glance, 
and with a cry of fury rushed toward my tormentor. 
Oh how that bully left me and ran. He fairly flew, 
while my big brother swept like a young tornado after 
him. Did ever a boy enjoy the sight of a race and pur- 
suit as I did that spectacle. I clapped my hands and 
laughed through my tears. 

A like experience has come to us all in the spiritual 
life. Who has not had the Devil to get him down and 
go to beating him. No one seemed able to help you, 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 299 

and you were ready to despair when suddenly Jesus 
appeared on the scene with a shout of onset and victory 
that sent infernal spirits tumbling over each other and 
falling backward and downward with cries of impotent 
rage into the dark hell from whence they came. All 
we did was to laugh, cry and shout as we saw our Big 
Brother, the Captain of our salvation, win another vic- 
tory for us, and save us again for the thousandth time. 

We need an Adviser. 

All of us have felt this want, and seen it to be a com- 
mon need. On all sides we have noticed people going 
to others of greater wisdom and experience and riper 
years asking for counsel. Some of the most touching 
and beautiful scenes I ever beheld have been on this 
very line. 

My mother was left a widow in early life with a half 
dozen children to raise. She had property, but was 
inexperienced and ignorant of the ways and laws of 
business. There was an elderly gentleman, a relative 
of the family to whom she always turned for advice. 
To this day I can see my mother talking anxiously to 
him and the troubled look leaving her eyes while he 
with kind and serious face cleared up the knotty affairs 
of business for her, and showed her what to do. 

I have seen a young merchant who had set up for himself 
in business go over to his father's store and have an office 
talk with him. Perplexities, complications had arisen, 



300 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

and he wanted advice from one who knew how to give 
it. It was beautiful to see the shadowed young face 
grow bright again under the counsel and superior wis- 
dom of one who had been in the mercantile life forty 
years longer than he had. 

I have seen the young wife and mother, burdened 
with her household cares, not knowing how to make 
both ends meet, troubled about the little sicknesses of 
the children, unable to manage the servants, not exactly 
pleasing her husband, go with that burdened heart to 
her mother to tell her all about it, and ask what to do. 
I have seen the two sitting together and the contrast 
in faces was a study. The young wife with a look of 
anxiety and first touches of sorrow ; the mother near 
her with the quiet restful countenance whose lines 
showed victory over many troubles, and a sweet knowl- 
edge gained after many struggles and tears. There 
was a calm, peaceful light in her face that made one 
think of a quiet evening after a stormy day. She had 
learned much in that she had suffered much, and now 
with peaceful manner, and quiet loving words she 
told the younger woman what to do. When they kissed 
each other in farewell, the daughter went way with the 
burden gone, a hope in her heart, a light on her way 
and a spring in her step she had not known for weeks. 

These pictures prepare us to see what Christ is to us 
in the spiritual life as a counselor and adviser. There 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 301 

are so many difficulties and troubles to tell Him about. 
There are so many steps to take that we must have light 
upon. And He has such a wonderful way of showing 
us what we must do. There are touches, smiles, im- 
pressions, drawings and restraining influences that 
equal a language. There are whispers that are as read- 
ily recognized by the soul as words by the ear. Long 
ago he said, "My sheep know My voice," and we do, 
and follow Him. 

The world's advice will not answer in spiritual things. 
We must go to Christ. It is said of Talmage that he 
was advised by friends in his early manhood to give up 
preaching, that he would never make a speaker. Similar 
advice was given to Matthew Simpson. He was sup- 
posed to be a consumptive, and counseled not to enter 
the ministry. But both of these men carried the mat- 
ter to Christ, and He said "Preach." The result in 
the silver-tongued orator of Brooklyn and the golden- 
mouthed Bishop of the Methodist Church is now known 
to the whole world. The first sermons of Wm. Wi- 
nans were laughed at, and gloomy prophecies were 
made concerning his ministerial future, but he 
went to Christ about it, who told him to go on, and 
he became Mississippi's mightiest preacher and 
one of the foremost men in the General Conference. 
Phillips Brooks had an impediment in his speech. 
If he had gone to men for counsel they would have told 



302 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

him never to enter a calling that required public speak- 
ing. But he went to Christ, who told him to preach, 
and his marvellous sermons have been sought after aii 
over the literary world. 

All of us have experiences here. In my own case 
my call to the ministry was opposed by friends and 
family, but I took Jesus as my adviser, went to preach- 
ing, and have seen multiplied thousands sweep into the 
light of free and full salvation. A man of high author- 
ity in my Denomination counseled me not to have certain 
meetings in my church, but Jesus advised me to have 
them, and as a result I saw over a thousand souls in 
two years' time saved and sanctified, more than half of 
them being conversions. 

A Bishop wrote to a preacher who was in the midst 
of sweeping revivals, " You will not listen to anything 
I say; you will not take my advice." How could he 
do so? He was listening to and obeying the Son of 
God. That following of the advice of the Saviour re- 
sulted in the salvation of thousands of souls. 

We need a Comforter. 

As planets turn to the sun, so the heart reaches out for 
the beams of loving sympathy. It craves and must 
find comfort in something or somebody. 

I read once of a little boy who had received an impa- 
tient and undeserved blow from his father's hand. The 
little fellow crept off sobbing, and the father tried, to 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 303 

resume his reading. It was impossible, and so after 
an half hour he laid down pen and books and sought 
the child. He found him lying asleep on the floor in 
the midst of a few playthings with which he had tried 
to console himself and forget his sorrow. They were 
very simple, consisting of a few pebbles and some pieces 
of broken glass. He had ranged them in rows and 
fallen asleep in his sorrowful play. The tears were still 
on his cheeks, and there was still a little sobbing catch 
in his breath. The scene, in its very simplicity, was 
inexpressibly pathetic. Driven from his father, he had 
sought companionship, sympathy and comfort in his 
little dumb and lifeless playthings. The father took it 
all in as he bent over the child with aching heart and 
overflowing eyes. 

It is the same law at work in us when we are grown 
and get hurt and bruised by the world ; we want conso- 
lation. But our poor little pebbles of earth cannot give 
it. Older people have their own sorrows that absorb 
them, and are powerless to help us as we need. To 
whom then can we go but to Christ? He, and He 
alone, can bring what we need to the heart. He said 
Himself, ' ' I will not leave you comfortless, I will come 
to you." 

I heard Dr. C. K. Marshall, of Mississippi, once 
say: "Since my mother died I have found a lap 
where I can now go ? bury my face and cry out all my 



304 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

sorrows. It is the lap of Jesus." Many of us have 
found that lap, and felt the mother-like caressing touch 
of the Saviour on the bowed head. It has kept our 
hearts from breaking many a time, and well for the 
world if all men knew the way to obtain the comfort 
of which I speak. 

I have seen a child come weeping to its mother, 
heartbroken over some mishap in the yard, or some 
rough treatment received in the street; and I have 
seen the mother take the little fellow on her lap and 
the comforting work begin. The soothing word would 
be spoken, the tender touch given, and the loving kiss 
pressed on the tear-stained cheek. Then would come 
promises and descriptions of something that the child 
should see or have on the morrow, until the little fel- 
low had forgotten all his sorrows and was laughing in 
great glee through his tears. 

So have we felt the embrace of Christ about us in 
time of trouble. How soothing were His words, and 
tender His touches. Then He began to speak of the 
great coming To-morrow. Oh the beautiful, blessed 
To-morrow where sin never comes, " where the wicked 
cease from troubling and the weary are at rest." As 
He talked on to us about it all, behold we forgot ah 
about our troubles, and our grief was turned into sing- 
ing, smiles and happy laughter, 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 305 

Paul and Silas were thrust in a cold dark dungeon, 
their feet were in the stocks, their backs were sore and 
bleeding from the scourging they had received for 
preaching the Gospel. Doubtless they could not sleep 
for the pain they endured ; but at midnight Christ be- 
gan to comfort them. The Scripture says they com- 
menced singing, and I doubt not they laughed and 
shouted. They woke up an earthquake, and sent 
an awful conviction to the hearts of jailer and prison- 
ers by the holy gladness that filled their hearts and 
overflowed their lips. They were far happier than the 
men who had beat them and thrust them there. So 
much for the comforting power of Christ. 

We need a Rewarder. 

The longer I live the more I am convinced that men 
cannot get justice from one another in this world. The 
very best of men seem to be unable to render a per- 
fectly impartial judgment in the case of their fellow 
beings, and to bestow the exact reward one's life may 
merit. A number of things combine to bring this about ; 
one is that some men do not trumpet their own good- 
ness or victories ; some men are better than they seem ; 
circumstances of suspicion are against individuals who 
are innocent ; and then besides this there is that secret 
envy and repining over the success and public applause 
of another, felt by and recognized even in good people. 
So that many noble and beautiful lives are being lived 



306 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

around us, and many heroic deeds and martyr suffer- 
ings for Christ are being gone through with, while hu- 
man observers look coldly on with interrogation points 
in eyes and hearts, as to whether the whole thing was 
sincere, and whether it will last any time. 

For years, as I have observed, the lack of com- 
mendation, endorsement and praise where it was de- 
served, I have seen the necessity of a great Judgment 
and Rewarding Day. Long ago I have seen that faith- 
ful servants and followers of God will never get the re- 
compense they merit, save from the hands of the 
Son of God. 

A part of this reward Christ gives now, and it is so 
sweet and satisfying that the man who possesses it is 
perfectly reconciled not to be understood and honored 
of men. It is something so much better than news- 
paper puffs and notices, so much more blessed than 
to be called "Rabbi" in the market places and courted 
by the public, that one moment of the experience would 
outw r eigh in pure, solid satisfying joy a lifetime of the 
other. 

On the Day of Judgment will come the full and per- 
fect reward. A heavenly recognition and recompense 
then, that shall be seen in lustrous resurrection, body, 
crowns, thrones and rulership over ten cities instead 
of one. I am sure that most of you are perfectly wil- 
ling to wait until that day, and I am still surer that 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 307 

you will be perfectly satisfied when the complete re- 
ward is given. 

4. CHRIST IS EVERYTHING TO US IN REGARD TO ADMIT- 
TANCE INTO HEAVEN. 

Who do you think will be able to sweep through the 
gates of pearl into the city of God. What plea can 
man make to get in. What is the condition of en- 
trance? Is it color, or caste, or good clothes? Is it 
wealth or blue blood, or prominence in State or Church? 
Is it church membership? Is it the fact that we did 
something for the Saviour while on earth? Is it the 
crying aloud in that hour, "Lord, Lord?" 

The Bible long ago has answered these questions, 
Xone of these tilings will make the Gates of Heaven 
fly open to us. They care little for wealth there where 
the streets are paved with gold. Prominence of office 
on earth does not mean exaltation in heaven. Church 
membership is nothing in that hour unless we are born 
of the Spirit. As for church services and vociferous 
crying, the Saviour has long ago described this very 
scene and its fearful end in the words, "Many will say 
to me in that day. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied 
in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? 
and in thy name have done many wonderful works? 
and then will I profess unto them, I never knew 
you." 



308 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

What then will open the door for us into the world 
of glory? The Bible teaches it; the name of Jesus on 
the lips and Spirit of Jesus in the heart and life ! This 
blessed and all essential union of the professed and 
possessed Christ in the man will cause any and all 
of the twelve gates to fly open to him. It matters not 
how low, liumble and obscure on earth the individual 
may have been, yet if Christ is seen shining in his face 
the gates will roll gladly back on their hinges and all 
within the city will say w r elcome. 

5. CHRIST IS EVERYTHING TO US IN HEAVEN. 

To me I cannot conceive of heaven without Jesus. 
He is essential to its glory, happiness and blessedness, 
and without Him it w T ould not seem heaven. 

I have heard people say that when they reached 
heaven they intended to hunt up certain famous Bible 
characters and spend a hundred years in looking at 
Abraham and Job, and another in gazing upon David, 
Paul and John, and so on. As for myself I want to 
see Jesus, I can get along without the prophets and 
apostles, but I cannot stand the absence of Christ. So 
I will stay near him and let those roam around who 
desire to do so. 

Some say they want to hear the great musicians and 
singers of earth lead the choirs in heaven ; and they 
desire to see the famous christian painters who por- 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 309 

trayed Christ in the Manger, in the Garden, on the 
Cross and on the Throne. They say they want to hear 
Luther and Wesley preach, and Bliss and Phillips sing, 
and so on endlessly. All I have to say is that if they 
feel that way they can go, but as for myself I shall 
remain close by the Saviour. 

There are good reasons for this Course. Do you see 
this small Xew Testament I hold in my hand ! It has 
only a few score pages of things said and done by the 
Saviour on earth. Yet so wonderful is this little book 
that the world never wearies of studying it. It is read 
by countless millions to-day all round the world and 
will be read with undying interest until Jesus comes at 
the end of time. If these few pages so hold the hearts 
and minds of men, what will He do personally when 
we see Him face to face. Who that hears Him speak 
will care to sit at the feet of the creature and listen. 

I want you to think of the melody in the throats of 
birds, the minor chords in winds and waves,. and the 
floods of music pouring continually from human voices 
and every kind of musical instrument. Now remember 
He is the author and inspirer of it all ! 

I look at the delicate tints of the flowers, and the 
marvellous colors of the sunset, and remember that he 
mixed the colors and painted every one. Something 
of the reason begins to dawn on you why some of us 



310 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

do not feel like leaving Christ to look on such men as 
Raphael and Guido. 

Then Christ possesses all knowledge. The Bible 
says, in Him is all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 
That He is the " Wisdom of God," and the " Truth." 
What need to ask men of learning questions in eternity 
when the Truth is by us. What need to ask scientists 
about geology, when He is before us who laid the 
foundation of the world. 

Besides this Christ is the Fountain of all joy. I 
never cared to go down the stream for a drink w T hen 
the spring was near me. So what need to depend on 
human rivulets when the everlasting Fountain of purest 
joy is by us for our appropriation and enjoyment. 

Above all He saved us. No one else could do that. 
He cast the devils out of us, and brought in the angels. 
He became our friend and stood by us helping us out 
of ten thousand trials, difficulties and sorrow's, w T hen 
even our best friends had lost patience and pity and 
given us up. 

All this will rise up in the heart and mind and over- 
flow the lips with tender rapturous praises w T hen w T e see 
Him. And so I do not believe that any will want ever 
to leave Him, or lose sight of him a single instant after 
they come into His blessed presence. They were just 
talking. They could not be dragged away. 



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 311 

I expect it will be with us as it was with John when 
he started to describe the City of God, the New Jerus- 
alem. He began with the walls and gates, and then 
coming inside commenced describing the streets, saying 
they were paved with gold ; when suddenly lifting his 
eyes, he said: u I saw a Lamb!" Have you noticed 
that he never described any more of the City? The 
Lamb seemed to have absorbed all of his ravished 
attention. He had eyes and ears and heart and praise 
for nothing and no one else after that view. From that 
moment everything seems to be regarded and valued 
simply by its relation to the slain Lamb, the blessed 
Son of God. 

So shall it be with us when there. I doubt not that 
Heaven is beautiful, but there is One there who will be 
its crowning glory. I do not question but it will be 
blessed to see the good and great of all ages gathered 
in the Kingdom of God, but there is a person there 
who will be the " Chief among ten thousand and the 
one altogether lovely." It will be joy to see Him, 
rapture to hear Him, bliss to be with Him, and Heaven 
itself to feel that we will never be parted, but remain in 
His glorious presence forever. In a word, no matter 
when, and where we look, we cannot get along without 
Christ. In both w r orlds w T e are only complete in Christ- 
He is everything to us, not only on earth, but even in 
Heaven. 



XII. 

THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 

"Fear not; for they that be with us are more than they 
that be with them. "— II. Kings, 6:16. 

IT IS remarkable how frequently words similar to 
these of the text, "Fear not," are used in the 

Bible. The church has always been in the minor- 
ity, the opposition is numerous and powerful, so that 
such words have been often addressed to God's people 
for their comfort and strength. 

Christ frequently used the expression in talking to His 
disciples. When brought before kings and governors 
for my sake "fear not." When cast out of the syna- 
gogue ' 'fear not. ' • When they would kill the body 
"fear them not." Once, through a storm at night, 
He w r alked over the w r aves to them as they toiled at 
their oars exhausted and terrified, and said the old, 
soothing words, "fear not." 

Here again in the text is the expression. The Syrian 
army had surrounded a city of Israel with horses and 
chariots. The servant of Elisha w T as appalled at the 
sight, and cried out, Alas! master, what shall we do? 
The prophet, all unmoved at the spectacle of the Syr- 
ian hosts and his servant's terror, said in reply, "Fear 

312 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 313 

not; for they that be with us are more than they that 
be with them." Then he prayed the Lord to open his 
servant's eyes, and at once the man was astounded to 
see that the mountain on which he and his master 
stood was "full of horses and chariots of fire round 
about Elisha." 

There are two ways of looking at Christ's cause on 
earth : There is a purely physical glance and there is a 
spiritual look. There is a hasty, superficial way of 
viewing the great struggle going on which leaves the 
observer terrified; and a calm, faith-piercing, God- 
anointed gaze that sees things as they are, the victory 
that is bound to be, and fills the gazer with perfect con- 
fidence and joy. This fleshly look perceives the Syrian 
army, the horses and chariots, and gives up; but the 
spiritual look takes note that God also has an army 
close by, that the horses and chariots are of fire and 
not flesh, and that the heavenly battalions so outnum- 
ber the other side that a whole army is sent to sur- 
round a single servant of God! 

There has been and still is fear with many regarding 
the great conflict going on. They think there is cause 
for anxiety and alarm. May the Lord send upon such 
people the vision of Elisha. May they see what he 
saw, and what is as true to-day as then, "that they 
that be with us are more than they that be with them." 
Let us look calmly at the matter and see who are 



314 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

against us and who are for us, and be done with our 
heaven-dishonoring fears forever. We notice : 

1. THOSE THAT ARE AGAINST US. 

And first we would mention Satan. Who is he? 
Men have so exalted him in their minds that one 
would suppose he was another God. In the might 
which they in their fancy have clothed him, one would 
judge he was all but infinite in power and resources, 
and could never be conquered. • But the facts in the 
case are that he is simply a creature; a great being, 
doubtless, but still a creature, and so, infinitely less 
than the Creator. Then he is a fallen creature, which 
places him on the road to a certain coming overwhelm- 
ing defeat. Then, Christ has already repeatedly con- 
quered him, and, wonder upon wonders! we are told 
that if we resist him he will flee from us! 

He seems to have under him a large body of evil 
fallen angels like himself; but again we remember the 
teaching of the Bible that the number of angels who 
kept not their higli estate were much smaller than those 
who abided; that already they have sustained a crush- 
ing reverse in being driven out of heaven, and, in com- 
mon with their leader, seem to be in terror of being sent 
down into the Pit, begging Christ not to do it, while, 
at the simple command of Jesus to "Come out of 
hiaij" we see ten thousand of them pouring like a 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 315 

black Niagara out of the demoniac of Gadara. As you 
consider these facts hastily mentioned, it seems you 
would breathe more easily in regard to the Satanic 
side of the opposition. 

Then we glance at prominent infidels. Suppose you 
segregate them and examining them thus one by one, 
your fear is certain to go down and your hope and 
confidence to rise. 

You have heard of Tom Paine. To get your eyes 
thoroughly opened to the utter moral weakness of the 
man, read Richard Watson's description of his life in 
his Apology for the Bible. Read there how he de- 
frauded the English government, betrayed a trust w T hen 
he was a secretary in one of the committees of our 
Congress, and broke the hearts of two women who had 
the misfortune to be his wives. Read of his drunken- 
ness for years, and see why it was this man fought 
Christ and why we need not be alarmed at his writings. 

In like manner take up Gibbons, Hobbes, Hume and 
others, and the life and last sayings of these men will 
show us that they will never be able to keep the Gospel 
from filling the earth. Many have been alarmed over 
the influence of Ingersoll. But if God had the least 
fear of him He would kill him and take him out of the 
way. He came several years ago to St. Louis, and 
some of us hardly knew when he arrived or when he 
loft, There was not a Bible given up nor a prayer less 



316 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

prayed. The crowd who went out to listen to him 
were those who desired to hear him prove that that 
world did not exist to which they had every reason to 
suppose they were going. I could but contrast his 
resultless visit with the work of an Evangelist who 
went to a town in Kentucky and in a week's time, 
playing cards were seen torn up in every direction 
while the receipts of the saloons fell from five hun- 
dred dollars a day to eighteen. 

Next we enumerate what are called wicked men. 
But in their study we soon observe that comparatively 
few are desperately wicked in their lives. Many are 
sick of sin. Many had Christian mothers and God is 
using their memory and influence more than others 
think. Many are. praying secretly, and through the 
Gospel and agencies like sickness, sorrow, disappoint- 
ment and death, all sanctified by grace, the Lord is 
continually thinning their ranks. 

In addition to all this w T e look at wickedness itself 
in its manifold forms and expressions, and it is evident 
that we are contemplating a mob rather than an or- 
ganized opposition. There seems to be no concert of 
action, no recognition of a general leader and ruler. 
The "Man of Sin" whoever he is, has not yet arisen to 
sway all the elements of evil in a body against God 
and His beloved city. We can count thousands of 
councils, conferences, synods, assemblies and conven- 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 317 

tions of the Christian church against a few of these 
slimly attended anti-Christ, anti-religious gatherings. 
You see we still outnumber them, and then our horses 
and chariots are of fire ! 

Besides this what has the side of sin to offer to its 
followers? It has no possessions in Eternity. It does 
not own" the planet on which we see it to-day. God 
simply tolerates ics presence for awhile. It has no 
world in the universe it can call its own. There is a 
world somewhere in outer darkness which is set aside 
for the final abode of wickedness, but it is simply a 
penitentiary and not a place of light and beauty. It is 
for confinement, not enjoyment. Sin has absolutely 
nothing to offer in Eternity but misery, and only a 
fitful, feverish and short-lived delusion in time. I 
marvel that it can command a following of thinking 
people. And the truth is they do not think, but go 
recklessly into ruin and spend Eternity in thinking. 

The matter is well described in a conversation held 
once between two parties. An unconverted young man 
said he wished he had a great fortune. 

"What w T ould you do if you had it?" asked an 
elderly christian. 

"Oh," he replied, "I would have a beautiful house 
and grounds the first thing." 

"What then?" 



318 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

" I would fill my house with books, paintings and 
musical instruments.' ' 

"What then?" 

"I would live in a whirl of pleasure with my friends." 

" What then?" 

"I would go sight-seeing and travel around the 
world." 

" What then?" 

"Oh — I would settle down in my home after awhile 
and enjoy myself." 

"What then?" 

"Well— I don't know exactly — but I expect I would 
finally grow old." 

"Well, what then?" said the man of God to the 
young man who began to wear a puzzled look. 

"I suppose," the young man answered gloomily, "I 
would have to die like other people." 

"And what then?" said the old christian with solemn 
look and still more solemn tone. 

This last question was never answered. It was a 
home thrust indeed. What could he say. How im- 
possible to expect any good or blessedness in the great 
eternity beyond when the life on earth had been spent 
in sin and for self and away from God. Reason and 
revelation alike agree in preventing a man from expect- 
ing good after such a life. So at its close the man 
stands fearfully peering out into the shadows of the 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 319 

limitless future beyond the grave, and to the question 
"what then?" — can say nothing, and can feel nothing 
but a dreadful inward foreboding which is itself the 
shadow of the approaching clouds of wrath and endless 
ruin. Sin has nothing to offer its followers in eternity 
but an everlasting penitentiary. This fact itself must 
at last awaken the deluded millions and turn them to 
Christ and holiness and heaven. 

I mention one other element of opposition against 
us; and strange to say it is found in the church itself. 
It is made up of unconverted and backslidden people 
who make a startling percentage of the membership of 
every religious denomination. 

With spirituality never possessed, or once had but 
now lost, we have a body in our midst who actually 
hinder the work and spread of the Gospel at home or 
in foreign lands, more than the open and armed foes of 
earth and hell. 

With little or no religious experience, their highest 
conception of Christian work is seen in the church 
supper, and general entertainment and amusement 
plan. They believe in a church kitchen but not in the 
class meeting. They know nothing of their church 
doctrines, and to them a clear cut sermon on regenera- 
tion, its duties and privileges is as distasteful as one on 
sanctification. In fact, when the text is preached from 
"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin," 



320 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

they think that what is called a "holiness sermon'* has 
been delivered to them. Silent at experience meetings, 
with little or no missionary spirit, with decided longings 
and relish for certain places of worldly amusements, 
such people constitute a dead weight in the race of the 
church, and a marvelous clog and hindrance to all 
movements on a deeply spiritual line. It is an exper- 
ience not to be forgotten to preach to such people and 
see no answering gleam in the eye or light in the face. 
Ezekiel called it a valley filled with skeletons, and 
Solomon said it was "a congregation of the dead." 
The very thought of marshalling such a body in 
aggressive warfare against sin and worldliness is felt 
to be simply absurd and impossible; and the result 
is the sight of preachers paralyzed in faith and hope 
looking for two hours every Sunday into the face of a 
congregation of the dead. 

2. THOSE THAT ARE WITH US. 

First, I notice that Nature is on our side. 

Men do not realize it, and sinners do not stop to 
think of it, but the earth is simply a platform erected 
by the Lord for the achievement of His plan in the 
salvation of men. It stands by the Lord and for the 
Lord. One day he will knock it down. Meantime it 
is His and as a matter of course and of fact Nature is 
in sympathy with Him. The stars in their courses 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 321 

fight for His people, the mud in the Red Sea causes 
the wheels of Pharaohs chariots to drive heavily, 
while the Jews go through easily. These facts are 
realized by individuals as well as Nations. The sun, 
moon, stars, clouds, winds and all seem to be against 
the soul that is doing wrong; they are in sympathy 
with God. 

Then Nature is obedient to God. Let a sinner try to 
manage it and see what will be the result. If any 
notice is taken at all of the pun}' effort, the winds and 
waves would say Paul I know and Cephas I know, and 
God I know, but who are ye; and they would leap on 
him and tare him. But let the Lord speak, and the 
oceans roll over the submerged world; the Red Sea 
covers the Egyptian army; Vesuvius buries Pompeii 
and Herculaneum in ashes and lava; Sodom and 
Gomorrah are burned with fire from the skies and sleep 
to-day with the Dead Sea over them as a winding sheet. 

Death is on our side. 

It is a grisly ally but a most important one, and it 
is always on God's side. It is God's servant and not 
the devil's nor man's. This moment if God was the 
least alarmed at the combinations against His Son and 
Church He could still every heart beat and take the 
breath from every nostril. The fact that he does not 
thus slay his enemies shows that He is not afraid of 
them. He could stop the workings of the laws of birth, 



322 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

but he allows human beings to be born and live on 
because he is not the slightest alarmed over what they 
may write and say and do. 

Still He uses death in the settling of this world's 
rebellion. He swept away the antideluvian wicked- 
ness by a sudden calamity that made men rush to the 
trees and hills and mountains. All but eight faithful 
souls perished in the world of waters that tossed their 
triumphant billows over every home, city and country, 
and going over the tallest mountains showed what God 
could do. with men in the way of death when he 
wanted to. 

In the "Tribulation" that is yet to come, the Bible 
tells us that one third of the race will go down in the 
frightful wars and calamities of that time. This doomed 
third will be those who have resisted and hated Him. 

Even now death is busy working out some of the 
dark problems of sin for God. Death is to-day creep- 
ing along the veins of Robert Ingersoll, he will soon be 
gone with all his blasphemies and false teachings. 
Death is stealing toward the heart of all the gamblers, 
liars, adulterers, and Sabbath breakers in the w r orld. 
They are going on in their mad course, but death is 
silently stealing up through abused nerves and vitiated 
blood, and outraged powers. They will all go. A 
whole generation of them will be gone in the next gen- 
eration. An army of evil doers will be marched through 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 323 

the portals of the grave into eternity to come back and 
defile this world no more. A new and better genera- 
tion will arise to take its place, and so it will be repeated 
until the glorious dawn of the Millenium. 

The funeral is a great factor with God in the moral 
progress of the world. He had to bury all that came 
out of Egypt with Moses before He could bring their 
children into Canaan. He still has to do this. We 
have cases in the church to-day that are as stubborn, 
rebellious and difficult to manage as the Jews who 
vexed and resisted God in the Wilderness. We have 
men in the pew and pulpit who are keeping a better 
state of things out of the church, preventing revivals 
and actually blocking up the way of God to the hearts 
and lives of the people. They will have to be buried 
and God will do it. Many of them say they are God's 
people. Many of them are. But w T ith their prejudices, 
animosities, desire to rule, habits of life, and heart 
backslidings they cannot keep up with the procession 
that God is bringing into Canaan. They will have to 
be buried and another and more spiritual band will 
take their place in the ranks of Israel. Death is on 
God's side. 

Conscience is on our side. 

There is a power in the human breast that is the rep- 
resentative of God. In its normal state it speaks for God 
and against evil. As has been said by another, "it makes 



324 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

cowards of us all." It turns the rustling of a leaf into 
the steps of coming judgement. It makes one imagine 
that each eye that is turned steadily upon him, knows 
the guilty secret of his life, and causes the simplest 
and most innocent of speeches to pierce like daggers 
to the soul. 

Conscience is the ventriloquism of heaven. Suppose 
one side in a war could throw their united voice into 
the camp of the enemy. What a power that would be. 
Well, this is what God can and does do. He pro- 
jects His voice in the form of conscience into the heart 
of every sinner. He tells him what sin is; He tells 
him he is a sinner, a hell-bound and hell-deserving 
sinner. He tells him of the lost world, its dreadful- 
ness, its torment and its hopelessness. 

What a power all this is. If one will give the mat- 
ter a little thought he will see that the force of this in- 
ward voice and monitor keeps wicked men quiet and 
peaceable who otherwise would not be so. It prevents 
many dreadful crimes, for even sinners are afraid of 
conscience, and is an additional fact of protection for our 
property and lives. Truly the wheels of the chariots of 
sin draw heavily when conscience is uplifting its voice. 
It is an uphill work indeed, and men have to goad the 
mind, and fire the body with stimulants to perform 
certain deeds of evil. 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 325 

I have been often struck with the upright position 
of men when they are in discharge of proper acts, and 
the stealthy crouching and bent attitudes of the thief, 
burglar and assassin. Conscience gives them much 
trouble. The mud seems deep in the Red Sea. 

Angels are on our side. 

That we may know what an element of strength is 
with us, suppose we count the holy unf alien beings. 
Have you noticed that when the Bible speaks of them 
it is not with an enumeration of units, but such words 
as u thousands " and u hosts," "a multitude of the 
heavenly host," etc. This is all deeply significant. 
Then notice their strength. The Bible says they excel 
in strength. The stone of Christ's sepulcher that a 
band of women could not stir, an angel with the greatest 
ease rolled away. One of them, we are told in Holy 
Writ, killed one hundred and eighty thousand men in a 
single night. We are told that they love to do God's 
bidding. In a flash they rush to fulfill His command. 
Christ said He could summon a legion to His help if 
He desired. 

The Scripture shows one standing in the sun ; an- 
other poised with one foot on the sea and another on 
the land, and with uplifted voice crying that Time shall 
be no more. They will be in great numbers at the 
Judgment, as the officers of God's power, and are seen 



326 BEVIVAL SERMONS. 

gathering the elect from the four quarters of the earth 
at the morning of the Resurrection. 

If we could have our eyes open to behold beings in 
the spiritual world we would see hundreds of angels 
flashing like meteors through the air in the service of 
God, and some doubtless at this very moment hover- 
ing over us in this building. How glad I am that such 
glorious and powerful beings are with us in the great 
struggle going on all over the world. 

The Redeemed are on our side. 

We mean those consciously saved by the blood of 
Christ. Part of this host are on earth, and it is a numer- 
ous and powerful following. You may say they are in 
the minority, that the unconverted greatly outnumber 
them. My reply is that there are two ways of 
counting, the world's way and God's way. The world 
estimates by heads, the Lord by character. So count- 
ing in one way the world is ahead of us, and in another 
way we outnumber the world. 

God has a blessing for His people that when they 
possess, He saj's Himself that one can chase a thousand 
and two put ten thousand to flight. Moreover men 
have repeatedly seen the workings of this strange 
heavenly arithmetic, where one man is equal to a 
thousand and two to ten thousand. They saw it in 
the apostles case, who could not be stopped by all 
the ecclesiastical and civil forces of the world. They 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 327 

saw it in Luther's case who wrought a victory for heaven 
in the face of millions of opposers. They saw the 
same thing with Wesley who was more than a match 
in his Gospel career for magistrates, ministers and 
roaring mobs who tried in vain to arrest his pen, 
silence his tongue, and prevent the achievements and 
victories of his consecrated life. 

Similar victories are being won in this very age all 
around us by individuals filled with the Holy Ghost 
and who are continually seen to be more than a match 
for howling devils and opposing men. Let a man feel 
he is right, God telling him so, and filling him with 
His Spirit and who can withstand him. I would rather 
fight a circular saw in full motion or meet a locomotive 
thundering down upon me on the railway track than 
such a fire-baptized, heaven-anointed and God-sent 
man. In the first case my body only would suffer; 
but in the last, body, soul and life would go down 
together before God's servant and messenger. 

Have you noticed how one determined man will go 
through a vast crowd of men? Everybody seems to 
give way to his persistent push and shove. Redemp- 
tion puts just such a moving force in the soul. Sinners 
move about with occasional spasmodic performances, 
but the holy, and fully redeemed man is fairly driven 
along by the mighty divine power that throbs and 
flows and boils in him. 



328 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

The papers told us several years since of an Evan- 
gelist holding a meeting in a New Jersey town, and at 
the end of a month every saloon had been closed in the 
place, and most of their owners had joined the church 
and were saved men. What is that but a repetition 
of what God said that one could chase a thousand. 
Who can doubt the issue of the great fight going on 
in the world when God's soldiers have such power! 

Then there are the Redeemed in Heaven. They have 
been crossing over for thousands of years since the 
first one righteous Abel went up. By this time they must 
constitute an exceedingly great army. In fact John, 
who had a view of them from the island of Patmos 
said they could not be numbered. I do not know 
what part they take in the battlefields of earth now, 
perhaps none, but then I do know that at the close of 
time they are going to be turned loose on this world. 
Jesus, by and by, will be seen descending the steeps of 
the skies above us at the head of the White Horse 
Cavalry of Heaven, the Ransomed of the glory world. 
John, in one of the closing chapters of Revelation, 
gives a wonderful picture of this irresistible and vic- 
torious charge on the astonished nations. 

I tell you brethren that the more I count up the 
forces in God's army, the more I feel that I would not 
be on the other side for reward or pay of any kind. 
Think of it ; all the good and true and pure of earth 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 329 

and heaven are on the Christian side. Can you doubt 
the issue of the conflict? 

The Truth is on our side. 

This we all know is an invincible power in itself. It 
is bound to win. Owing to its nature, it causes the 
bitterest opposition, and, owing to the moral freedom 
of men and the dense spiritual ignorance in the human 
race since the Fall, it takes time for truth to tri- 
umph; but the victory is always certain to come. 

This is so of every kind of truth. It is so of deeds 
involved in darkness, that sooner or later become known. 
It is so of human lives; the facts concerning them 
always come to the light, though there may be long 
delay. It is so of scientific truth, no matter how the 
first discovery is ridiculed and opposed. The fact itself 
will not go down under laughter and denial, but pushes 
its way onward and upward until the world is com- 
pelled to give it recognition and place. 

So it is with the great truths of salvation. They are 
not only thoughts and acts of God, but eternal facts 
and principles. They cannot be displaced ; they con- 
stitute a part of the moral universe, and we spiritually 
exist because they exist. The happiness and well- 
being of God's intellectual and moral creatures depend 
on the great facts of the atonement, repentance, faith, 
justification, regeneration and sanctification. They will 



330 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

not down at man's bidding, and they cannot be 
downed. 

" Truth "rushed to earth will rise again, 
The eternal years of God are hers." 

Gamaliel's advice to the Sanhedrim thoroughly de- 
scribes it: "If this counsel or work be of men it will 
come to naught; but if it be of God ye cannot over- 
throw it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against 
God." 

Finally, God is on our side. 

I sometimes wonder how a man could consent to be on 
the side against God for a single minute. The thought 
to me would be unspeakably alarming and paralyzing 
that my hand and life was opposed to Him who wheels 
the worlds in mid-air. who has all power, who never had 
a beginning and can never have an ending. The very 
thought of such an opponent ought to be sufficient to 
make any and all throw down their arms of rebellion 
and cry for mercy. It is said of Nabal that when he 
heard that David was approaching with six hundred 
men to slay him, his heart sank within him and he 
became as a stone. He died with terror. But what is 
David to Him w r ho has the armies of heaven and forces 
of eternity at His back? Who could not only roll the 
oceans over us, but could scorch us with heat, burn us 
up with subterranean fires, or knock this world to pieces 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 331 

at a blow and let us fall forever through the dead, black 
infinite space that underlies creation. 

It was this very thought of the overwhelming great- 
ness of God that, bore down upon and seemed to 
utterly bewilder and overwhelm a man. He was a 
fugitive, and trying to escape from the hands of jus- 
tice. He seemed perfectly confused. With ample 
opportunity to regain his freedom, he ran this way and 
that, and, falling down helplessly at the foot of a large 
oak, was recaptured. His explanation was, "I thought 
every tree was Almighty God." 

With these and other facts before us I ask two ques- 
tions; one is, what can a man do against God? 

The Lord has anticipated this question and answered 
it so thoroughly in the Bible and in daily life that the 
wildest hope of human opposition must die. The 
facts loom up everywhere as regard man's im- 
potency. In vain men tried to roll back the billows of 
the Flood, and equally in vain was their endeavor to 
build a tower to reach heaven. They could not keep 
Christ in the tomb although it was sealed with the 
signets of Roman power, and guarded by a company of 
soldiers. They could not prevent the Holy Spirit from 
falling on the Day of Pentecost although the State and 
Church alike ignored and despised the gathering in the 
Upper Room. They could not keep the disciples from 
preaching, nor the truth from spreading nor the people 



332 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

from being saved. If a prophet or disciple was slain, 
another took his place. If a king with his pen-knife 
cut out a part of the Holy Scripture, God had it im- 
mediately re-written and re-read to the people. If 
christians were slain in great numbers, a greater num- 
ber immediately sprang up to take their place, so that 
the saying was born that the blood of the martyrs was 
the seed of the church. 

Men can do nothing against God. It would be easier 
for a baby to stop the rush of an avalanche, than for 
sinful men to keep the Holy Ghost from falling on the 
souls of believers. It would be easier for any of us to 
stand out some night and stop the stars in their march 
through the great voids of space above us, than to arrest 
the sweep of God's blessed truth through this world. 
It would be easier for us to prevent the sun from rising 
to-morrow morning than to keep Christ from returning 
through the air to this world to judge the nations, reward 
His people and carry them home with Him to the skies. 

Oh I am so glad that men can do nothing against 
God. They cannot reach Him on His throne, He is 
so far away. They cannot kill Him for he is eternal as 
well as omnipotent. If they burn His Bible the truth 
is still left in the necessities, cravings and dependencies 
of human nature and in the commensurate supply of 
grace in Jesus Christ. If they kill His people He 
will raise them again. They cannot put a stop to the 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 333 

proceedings of the Day of Judgment, nor put out the 
fires of hell, nor affect in the slightest possible degree 
the light, glory and joys of heaven. 

The other question is in itself full of comfort and 
reassuring power; what can God do with men? 

The answer from the Bible and life says anything 
and everything. He had only to look out of a cloud at 
the Egyptians in the Red Sea when at once they became 
troubled and perplexed while their chariot wheels sank 
in the mire. He simply spoke to the ground and it 
opened like a vast mouth and swallowed up the wicked 
men who had defied Him and his servant Moses. He 
commissioned the limb of a tree to capture the fiery 
Absalom, bade some beams of light knock the perse- 
cuting Saul on the ground, and sent a few worms to eat 
and destroy the tyrant Herod. He took the color out of 
the cheek and strength from the knee of a powerful 
king by the sight of one of His fingers writing on the 
wall ; and to the rich man boasting of his plenty and 
coming years of selfish enjoyment He said, "thou fool," 
and swept him with a mere breath from his vast pos- 
sessions to be a pauper in the other world forever. 

If a spiritual history of this world could be written 
about the present times, it would be found to read like 
events narrated in the Bible , and God seen to be busy pull- 
ing down, setting up, overturning, overthrowing and 
naving His way with men and devils just the same as 



334 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

ever. What the combined nations of Europe could not 
do against Napoleon, God did with a soft, noiseless 
white army of the sky, called snow, which he sent into 
Russia to meet and overcome the army of the man of 
ungovernable ambition. The victory at Waterloo was 
not so much due to Wellington and the arrival of 
Blucher, as to a heavy rain that prevented certain 
heavy artillery and thirty thousand men from coming 
to the relief of the man whom God had determined to 
humble, and did it with snow and mud. 

It is in the power of God to-day to take the fight out 
of the strongest of his human enemies with a few be- 
reavements and losses, or by a steady physical pain of 
a few hours. I have repeatedly seen the hardest of 
sinners pull down the flag of rebellion, and cry for 
mercy after an hour or so of crushing sorrow or terrible 
physical pain. 

Now, then, this God is on our side, fighting with us 
and for us. All wise, all powerful and present every- 
where, who can withstand Him, and what can there 
be but certain victory. He is defending His truth and 
taking care of His people. The Ark is sure to reach 
Jerusalem because God is with it and bringing it up. 

One of the wonderful evidences of his infinite super- 
iority in this great contest, is that He takes the weak 
things of the world to confound the things which are 
mighty. A set of fire baptized fishermen of Galilee are 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 335 

made to overthrow the powerful religions of the world. 
A band of u Sanctified Cobblers,'" as Sydney Smith 
called Wesley's preachers, rolled a wave of salvation to 
the ends of the earth, and it is still rolling. A man who 
has never known the colleges is used to bring thousands 
and tens of thousands of people to God, from the days 
of John the Baptist, to well known Evangelists of the 
present time. 

Again He makes the wrath of man to praise 
Him, and uses the blunders of devils and men to 
spread His cause. Herods' persecution of the disciples 
and driving them from Jerusalem, simply scattered the 
holy fire. The martyrdom of thousands of Christians 
in the first centuries taught the world how Christ 
followers could die, and how the Lord could so sustain 
them as they burned at the stake or sank under the 
sword, that they passed away with shining faces and 
shouts of joy and victory. 

Unto this day all the opposition and persecution that 
has raged against the doctrines and people of God has 
advanced the cause of Heaven, and made the Truth 
fairly fly, when before that time it had been merely 
walking or even standing still. 

As far as I can see Christianity did not die with the 
murdered Huguenots, and was not hurt when the 
Puritans were driven from England to the wilds of 
America. God wanted religious people to settle the 



336 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

new continent, and so let persecution furnish the 
settlers. The doctrine of justification of faith contin- 
ued to flourish, no matter how Luther was lied against 
and driven about over the country. The great Wesley- 
an revival of pardon and holiness was not checked be- 
cause the founder of the Methodist church was mobbed 
in nearly every town and forbidden to preach by the 
clergymen in almost every parish. 

I knew of a preacher who was persecuted out of a 
State, and, thus driven out, came to a city where he 
led a man into the light of full salvation, who took the 
truth and swept it into thirty-three States of the Union. 

A lady full of the Holy Ghost was so misunderstood 
by her pastor and fellow members that she was ar- 
raigned and tried in the church for heresy. Quite a 
large concourse of people came to see her expelled, and 
were prepared to endorse and approve the sentence. 
But when they saw her shining face, heard her gentle 
speech and felt her beautiful Christlike spirit, convic- 
tion struck into their hearts, and a number were led to 
seek and soon after obtained the Baptism of the Holy 
Ghost, the very religious experience for which the lady 
I speak of was tried. 

In one of our Western States a number of churches 
were locked against the preaching of full salvation, the 
complete purification of the heart by faith in Christ. 
At once God whispered to a rich man, " Give thirty 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 337 

tents to my people." Andlo! thousands listened to the 
truth who would not and could not have heard it in 
the smaller quarters that were locked against the proc- 
lamation of a full Gospel. 

Christianity driven in the first century to upper 
rooms, private homes and in the fields; the wonderful 
revival of last century forced into foundries and mines, 
into streets and fields; and the spectacle to-day of 
full salvation preached in court houses, school houses, 
opera houses and theatres, under tents and brush 
arbors, and in the open fields— is the same vision. 
The dream, King, is the same. The key to the 
strange opposition is found in the carnal mind. While 
the announcement from heaven is that victory is certain 
to come in spite of everything and everybody. 

Just as triumph came in the first century and in the 
eighteenth, so will it come in the nineteenth and 
twentieth and all the centuries until Jesus comes. God 
is determined that men shall know w T hat the Gospel 
teaches, and what Christ can do for the soul. In 
spite of the hate of hell, and rage of men, and the re- 
sistance of formal and backslidden churches ; in spite 
of ignorance and prejudice, the w T agging of tongues 
and movement of pens, the power of State and legisla- 
tion of ecclesiastical assemblies, God is resolved that 
the world shall hear of a free salvation and the church 
of a full salvation ; that Jesus died not only to savi 



338 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

men from hell , but from sin; that He not only can 
pardon, but can sanctify the soul and keep the soul 
from falling, not simply for a day but for all time. 

Of course if God determines on this, it shall be done. 
Men will hear a Gospel that is Good News indeed. As 
they hear they will believe, and as they believe they 
will receive, and Salvation will cover the earth like 
another deluge in which the nations shall go under, 
and the highest mountain of human opposition will be 
submerged. 

Finally our perfect confidence in the certainty of 
victory is seen in the fact that prophecy has already 
described the end, the overthrow of Satan and Sin, 
and the complete triumph of Christ and His Church. 

The official bulletin of the last battle has been in- 
dited and published by the Lord Himself. It appears 
in its cornpletest form in the Book of Revelation. 
Not an important feature of the disaster and defeat of 
Sin is omitted, and not a fact of the Divine triumph is 
overlooked. The Devil and the Beast with the False 
Prophet are all cast into Hell. The nations that forgot 
God, go down into the Pit. All liars, drunkards, idol- 
ators, adulterers and whosoever refused the cleansing 
blood of Christ are shut out of the City of God. Not a 
vestige or sign of the Great Rebellion is left to sadden 
and trouble the Universe. It is all destroyed or ban- 
ished into outer darkness. 



THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY. 339 

As for the Victory, it is described in figures that are 
gigantic and overwhelming to the mind. The Son of 
God is seen with many crowns on his head; His fol- 
lowers ride on white horses splashed with blood ; the 
city of God all ablaze with glory is beheld descending 
the skies; the people of God are caught up in the air 
to meet the Lord; the Judgment throne is set; Sin is 
banished; the Devil is chained in hell; Holiness is 
everywhere; Heaven is open, and an Eternity of joy 
unrolls before the enraptured vision. 

Think of the moral effect of a bulletin published and 
put in the hands of an earthly army before the battle. 
In it appeared all the incidents of the great victory that 
was to be won and the overwhelming defeat of the 
other side. Suppose the side to be conquered could 
also read the same report. Who could doubt the issue 
of the conflict. One side would go into the battle 
flushed with the certainty of the coming victory, and 
would sweep the field with irresistible power from the 
beginning; while the other body of troops would be 
like Saul gloomy with the prophecy of approaching 
death, and Jike him would simply go forth to be hewn 
down and die on the field of battle. 

We have the Bulletin published about the issue of 
this great War of the Universe, which has already 
penetrated into three worlds, and may have gone into 
more than we dream ot. 



340 REVIVAL SERMONS. 

The Bible, the bulletin of heaven, says we shall con- 
quer. It says: "Every knee shall bow, and every 
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to th(^ 
glory of God the Father." It declares that sinners 
shall be saved or banished. Devils will fear, fly, and 
be put in chains. Sin shall end. Death will cease. 
All tears shall be wiped away from all faces. The 
world shall be purified. There shall be a new Heaven 
and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Je- 
sus shall reign. God will be all and in all, and Heaven 
everywhere. 

How can hope sink, and faith waver, and labor 
cease, with such a victory ahead of us? Soldiers and 
followers of Christ! fail into line, wave the red and 
white banners of justification and holiness, shout the 
name of Jesus as the real battle cry of the Church, and 
charge in an unbroken body upon the dark ranks of 
sin and hell. 

Hear it, for the month of the Lord has spoken it! 
Sickness, Sorrow, Death and Sin shall leave this world. 
Men shall be saved in countless millions, nations shall 
be born in a day, continents will wheel into line, 
Paradise will be restored, and Jesus will appear in the 
clouds coming for us, to be with us and reign over us 
forever. Amen. 

The End. 



JUN16 1898 

ONEC^'REC'D 
JUN 16 1898 



